Stealth, Bono has been going on for a long, long time about international poverty, Haiti, etc, etc, etc.
When the dust clears a report is swept under the rug showing up to $1 billion of donated aid for the poor and needed was misappropriated. Had it taken place inside the US it would be Bernie Maddow type fraud, outside the US we can only weep and pretend it didn't happen.
By US Federal law a non-profit organization only need spend a fraction of donated funds on the actual charity. The balance can be used for salaries, travel, office space, conferences, TV commercials, marketing, etc. This is why when Katrina happened many people were pretty ticked off at the Red Cross. They ran TV adds promoting donations for Katrina victims, raised millions and millions with only fractions of the actual dollars going to New Orleans.
This does not mean this is a scam. This does mean do some serious due diligence on first the issue and second the conduit. Most of these....I would suggest first checking with the US State Dept. They track international charities and can provide much information.
Boo
