Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said Thursday his office has reached a $700,000 settlement with clothing donation company Thrift Land USA of Yonkers Inc., which allegedly resold donated clothes for profit and deceived the public into thinking their old clothing would benefit various charities.
Schneiderman said charities named on Thrift Land’s clothing donation bins, including New City-based Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland County and Queens-based I Love Our Youth Inc., received only a small monthly fee for the use of their logos. As part of the settlement, Thrift Land, which netted more than $10 million from the scheme, was required to pay $50,000 in penalties as well as a payment of $650,000 to the New York Community Trust and the Westchester Community Foundation.
Thrift Land, which operates more than 1,100 clothing donations bins in parking lots, gas stations and others locations throughout the region, was also found to have entered into contracts with charities as a professional fundraiser without having registered with Schneiderman’s office as required by law.
“Duping members of the public into thinking that they are making a charitable donation, when in fact they are enriching a for-profit corporation, is both deceptive and illegal,” Schneiderman said. “When a for-profit company masquerades as a charity, my office will hold it and its owners accountable.”
Going forward, Thrift Land will be required to disclose its for-profit status, company name and phone number on its bins as well as written consent from each property owner.
Hosea James Givan II, chairman of I Love Our Youth, was also found to have used charitable funds to pay for personal expenses. Givan was required to pay $50,000 in penalties and dissolve the company.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland County was also found to have failed to take take adequate measures to ensure its logo and name were not being used in a deceptive manner by Thrift Land. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland County will directly manage and supervise all charitable advertisements of its logo moving forward as part of the settlement.
The case was handled by Assistant Attorney general Sandra Giorno-Tocco, Volunteer Assistant Attorney General Irma K. Nimetz and Law Department Investigator John Slevin.
