Troubled Sandy Charity’s Lawyer Rebukes N.J. for Fraud Case

The attorney for a Superstorm Sandy charity being sued by New Jersey for alleged fraud says regulators are singling out the grassroots group for practices similar to those of bigger relief efforts, including one run by the state’s first lady, The Star-Ledger of Newark reports.

The state’s consumer-affairs office, in suing the Hurricane Sandy Relief Foundation last month, noted that the Sparta, N.J., group had disbursed less than 1 percent of $600,000 it had raised for storm victims. In a sharply worded court filing Monday, lawyer Robert E. Levy noted that Mary Pat Christie’s Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund has also spent very little of its donated funds.

“Consumer Affairs suggested it was suspicious that the funds weren’t being disbursed,” Mr. Levy said. “It doesn’t appear to be suspicious when it deals with the First Lady’s fund. … They are focusing on a lesser-known entity and not holding the First Lady’s fund to the same standard.”