2 Charities Refuse to Return Gifts From Donor Convicted of Fraud

Two high-profile New York nonprofit institutions are resisting the federal government’s call to return donations from Hassan Nemazee, a business executive who has been convicted of fraud, The New York Times writes.

The Asia Society has held onto the more than $270,000 it received from Mr. Nemazee, a once-powerful businessman and Democratic Party donor who pleaded guilty in March to operating a $292-million Ponzi scheme. The private Spence School has refused to return $15,415 in gifts.

In letters to the government, the institutions argued that they should not have to return donations that they did not know were the product of criminal activity and that the money has long since been spent.

Federal officials contend that the society, which listed $8-million in cash, according to its 2009 annual report, and the school, with an $85-million endowment, have ample resources to repay the gifts.

Several other Nemazee beneficiaries, including Harvard and Brown universities and the Council on Foreign Relations, have forfeited the donated funds.

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