Yesterday reports surfaced from ESPN about athletes and their charities. Lamar's charity was exposed as having raised more than two million dollars earmarked for charity which may not have been used for his Cathy's Kids charity.
"It is unfortunate that my husband has been the target of an attack on
athletes’ charities, although he has personally contributed approximately $2.2
million to his foundation, Cathy’s Kids, to fulfill its charitable purposes
that include helping underprivileged inner-city youth.
The millions of dollars personally contributed by Lamar
constituted more than 90% of the money raised by the foundation. All of the
funds donated by Lamar and the other contributions to Cathy’s Kids were used
for one of the foundation’s intended charitable purposes. Not one penny went to
help Lamar personally or any member of his family. No charitable funds were
misused, and the IRS has repeatedly given Cathy’s Kids a clean bill of health,
confirming that there were no improprieties...."
TMZ contacted the President of the Amateur Athletic Union and he had this to say regarding Lamar's charity donations:
" Lamar Odom's charity, Cathy's Kids, never donated a single dollar to the AAU basketball program ... despite L.O.'s claims ... at least that's what the president of the Amateur Athletic Union tells TMZ.We spoke to Henry Forrest ... who tells us, "Cathy’s Kids has never donated to us. They have never, ever contributed to us. On Sunday morning it was mentioned that Cathy’s Kids has contributed to AAU Basketball teams ... that is an incorrect statement."
Forrest is responding to the "Outside the Lines" report, in which ESPN showed documents seemingly proving $1.3 million of the $2.2 raised by the charity was donated to "AAU team sponsorship."
When asked about the specific programs Cathy's Kids helps to support, Odom told the reporter, "A lot through AAU basketball in my neighborhood where I come from in South Jamaica, Queens."
But Forrest tells TMZ it's simply not true -- though he does say it's possible Odom used the money to finance an independent local team that was allowed to participate in AAU events.
“It is possible that Cathy’s Kids sponsored [an independent] team that registered to play in an AAU event. But teams like this only register to play in our events, they are not affiliated with AAU."
After TMZ spoke to the President of the AAU Lamar's Rep had this to say:
“Lamar had teams he funded for their expenses for AAU sanctioned events. Money did not go directly to the AAU, it went directly to the teams for their expenses.”
...SMH at Lamar right now because how does he not know where the money for his charity is going?
No comments:
Post a Comment