DES MOINES, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced Monday that a professional fundraising company from Massachusetts has been barred from seeking charitable solicitations in the state for a minimum of five years.
Polk County District Court Judge Michael D. Huppert also ordered Integral Resources Inc. to pay $30,000 to the state and an additional $70,000 if it intends to resume charitable fundraising following the ban's expiration. The judgment also prohibits the defendants from using any donor information involving Iowa residents.
Miller alleged that Integral, in 15 phone calls -- three to an undercover Consumer
Protection Division phone line and 12 obtained from the company -- made misleading or outright false statements.
"The deceptions included how much of each donated dollar would go to the cause, whether the charity itself was calling, and whether the donor was being asked to make a one-time contribution, as opposed to being put in a rotation for repeat calls," Miller said. "We won't tolerate companies trying to take unfair advantage of Iowans' generosity."
The order does not bar Integral from political fundraising but prohibits it from soliciting on behalf of non-profit and political organizations.
In addition to Integral, the consent judgment applies to three individuals who allegedly control the company's operations, including president and CEO Ronald Rosenblith, vice president Page Gardner and secretary/treasurer Michael Campbell. Each defendant denied any wrongdoing in the consent judgment.
Fundraiser barred from Iowa for five years
