Queens-based “Hope for the Disabled Kids, Inc.” Spent Over $2 Million on Personal Expenses and Real Estate Instead of Helping Families
NEW YORK, NY (July 1, 2010) - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today announced the arrest and guilty plea of the founder of a sham car donation charity for looting over $2 million in charitable funds. Shoba Bakhsh, of Queens-based “Hope for the Disabled Kids, Inc.,” pled guilty to lying to donors and misusing funds for herself and her family. As a condition of the plea, the charity will immediately shut down. Today’s action marked the latest stage of the Attorney General’s ongoing, industry-wide investigation into car donation charities. Hope for the Disabled Kids took in thousands of cars and had more than $2 million in revenue between the charity’s founding in 2001 and 2009. When soliciting donors, Bakhsh promised that over 90% of donations would go to help disabled children. However, no funds were used for any legitimate charitable purposes from 2007 to 2009. No records were produced to prove that funds were used for legitimate purposes prior to 2007 because Bakhsh destroyed document...