What has happened to Sean Hannity's vaunted and much ballyhooed Sean Hannity's "Freedom Concerts?"
A year ago on Aug 4,2007 I wrote (as, Marine Retired) here about the tax returns for the 501c3 charity known as "Freedom Alliance." This much bally-hoed and vaunted charity is set up to raise money for Wounded Veterans and their families. In the last year reported 2006 (2007's return has not been published yet,as of this date) Ollie North reported raising over $9.5 million for the wounded and their families! However when one reads line by line of their 990 report for the reporting year of 2006, they only gave back to the Wounded Veterans and their families $397,900!
Listening to North's claim that they gave over $5 million back that would be correct if you consider spending the following on the Vets:
- $1,730,816 on Postage and shipping!
as found in Part 11, Line 35
- $1,414,215 on Printing and publications!
as found in Part 11, Line 38
They only sold $33,060 worth of books in 2006 as found in: Part VII, Line 93, oddly enough noted as "Program service revenue" - BOOK SALES
However in Part 11, Line 22b is the expenditure of $397,900!
Broken down it looks like this:
$91,900 Grants and Contributions (cash to the vets)
$306,500 Scholarship Grants
One asks what that might be for? That's the total amount Freedom Alliance actually spent on the Wounded Men and Women and their families in 2006! The above expenses and many more are included in Part 111 - Statement of Program Service Expenses totaling - $5,434,538, which also includes the miniscule amount of $397,900 that was actually spent on the wounded and their families! But since the words:
"Statement of Program Service Accomplishments" Ollie gets to brag about spending over $5,000,000 on the Vets!
Go to charityguide.org register and type in "Freedom Alliance" click on the one from Dulles Va and you can read their 990's back into the late 1990's!
Now let me get to my reason for writing about this scam a year later. Sean Hannity's much talked about until this year the "Freedom Concerts" is listed no where in Freedom Alliances Tax Reports for 2006, 2005, 2004! The monies raised are NO WHERE to be found! What gives one wonders where Hannity is reporting the millions raised he supposedly raised the wounded and their families?
"Freedom Concerts" was listed on the front page, upper left hand corner, in the "main menu" of the Freedom Alliance site until this year! In the Freedom Alliances "Calendar of Monthly Events" Freedom Concerts is no where to be found! Repeated calls to Freedom Alliance about upcoming concerts have been met with the same vague reply: "When Sean notifies us, we'll post them"! In other words, no concerts this year so far!
But hold on!
On May 3 in Vegas, at a off-the-strip casino called the Orleans, Hannity held a concert. I asked if the concert was held in conjunction with Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund and was told "No it isn't!" By the way Hannity has changed the name from Freedom Concerts to "Sean Hannity and Friends!"
Goggle " Hannity, Freedom Concerts Tour 2008" what do you come up? So what has happened to Hannity's "Freedom Concerts?"
So where is the money being reported to that has been raised since they were first held?
If you go to premierspeakers.org, type in Hannity's name, then read about him and a his claim that he donated $10,000,000 to Freedom Alliance last year! Did he?
SEAN, SHOW ME THE MONEY!