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Head of NY-based charity ‘Modest Needs’ charged with stealing millions

By

Herb Pinder

Published Jun 14, 2024

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A new criminal complaint from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York alleges that Keith Taylor, founder of New York-based charity Modest Needs, used millions in donor funds to support "lavish personal spending," including hundreds of thousands of dollars at the city's most expensive restaurants. A favorite was Per Se on Columbus Circle, where Taylor spent more than $68,000 on meals, according to the complaint.

 

STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images

By

Herb Pinder

Published Jun 14, 2024

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The website for the oft-lauded New York City-based nonprofit Modest Needs states donors to the crowdfunding charity “stopped the cycle of poverty” for 17,535 “hard-working individuals” in need.

Federal prosecutors now say no one benefitted more than the charity’s CEO and founder, charged in a criminal complaint with embezzling $2.5 million.

Keith Taylor, 56, the media-savvy head of the charity he founded in 2002 — which has won praise for its difference-making ways on CNN, Today, Oprah, and a host of national publications, including People and USA Today — faces one count each of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and six counts of tax evasion, according to the office of Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“As alleged, Keith Taylor falsely claimed that donations to his charity would help working families with unexpected expenses that put them at risk of homelessness,” Williams said in the statement. “Instead, Taylor allegedly took those donations to pay for his meals at upscale restaurants, rent for a luxury apartment in a Manhattan skyscraper, and even cosmetic surgery.”

Taylor's attorney, Brian Ketcham, said in an email Friday, "Our only statement right now is that Keith denies the charges and looks forward to clearing his name." Taylor appeared in federal court this week and was released on bond.

The Modest Needs website features pleas from “hard-working individuals” from New York and across the country seeking help paying rent, car repair bills, medical bills, utility bills, or facing other hardship. The website explains that payments “do not ever” go directly to those seeking help — rather, “we assist the person who has requested our help by remitting payment directly to the vendor or creditor named in the applicant's documentation.”

According the complaint, embezzled donor funds were used to support “lavish personal spending” by Taylor, including $320,000 at high-end restaurants Per Se, Jean-Georges, Masa, and Marea; $300,000 in rent for a luxury, 30th-floor apartment in Midtown; $182,935 for food deliveries; $63,000 for his own medical bills, including for cosmetic surgery; along with many other expenses.

From 2016 through about 2022, Modest Needs took in approximately $9.9 million from donors, and approximately $5.9 million “appears" to have been spent on funding applicants to the charity, paying employees other than Taylor, and on "potentially legitimate … business expenses,” according to the complaint.

For at least the calendar years 2017 through 2022, Taylor did not file personal income tax returns or pay income taxes on the income he received from the charity, according to the complaint. The charity’s 990 tax form for 2021 states that Taylor received $193,322 in reportable compensation, when prosecutors say he converted substantially more donor funds for his personal benefit. Taylor created a fake board of directors and claimed it had approved the spending, prosecutors allege.

New donations were still being solicited and acknowledged on the platform on Friday.

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Race And Justice Unit

Herb Pinder

Herb is the editor of the Race & Justice unit. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-922-2497.

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