Authorities to investigate Jay Sekulow nonprofit after 'troubling' revelations

Jon Swaine in New York
Updated
Since 2000, the not-for-profit group and an affiliate have steered more than $60m to Sekulow, members of his family and businesses where they hold senior roles.
Since 2000, the not-for-profit group and an affiliate have steered more than $60m to Sekulow, members of his family and businesses where they hold senior roles. Photograph: Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images

Authorities in two states are looking into a nonprofit led by an attorney to Donald Trump, after the Guardian reported it had steered tens of millions of dollars to the attorney, his family and their businesses.

Josh Stein, the attorney general of North Carolina, and Eric Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, said on Wednesday they would be examining the operations of Jay Sekulow’s group Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (Case).

Stein said in a statement: “The reports I’ve read are troubling. My office is looking into this matter.”

Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for Schneiderman, said in an email: “We’re reviewing their filings.”

The Democratic state law enforcement officials acted following the disclosure that Case and an affiliate have since 2000 paid more than $60m in compensation and contracts to Sekulow, his relatives and companies where they hold senior roles.

Nonprofits are forbidden by law from giving excess benefits to the people responsible for running them. Case’s board is dominated by Sekulow and his family. The group is registered with state authorities to operate and raise funds in 39 states plus Washington DC, according to its last available IRS filing. It is closely entwined with American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), another Sekulow nonprofit.

Telemarketers for Case are currently instructed to tell would-be donors that Sekulow “never charges for his services” if asked for information about the 61-year-old attorney, according to a contract obtained by the Guardian.

Sekulow and his spokesman, Gene Kapp, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an earlier statement, Kapp said: “The financial arrangements between the ACLJ, Case and all related entities are regularly reviewed by outside independent compensation experts and have been determined to be reasonable. In addition, each entity has annual independent outside audits performed by certified public accounting firms. Further, the IRS has previously conducted audits of the ACLJ and Case and found them to be in full compliance of all applicable tax laws.”


Earlier this month, Sekulow directed fundraisers for Case to pressure hard-up Americans to donate money to the group by saying the funds were urgently needed to repeal the Affordable Care Act if they initially resisted.

A script contained in the contract instructed the telemarketers to tell people that their money was needed for Case’s “massive campaign to repeal and replace Obamacare”.

“Many people are helping with smaller amounts,” fundraisers were told to say. “Can Jay count on you for a smaller, but just as important gift?” People should be urged a third time to donate if they continued to resist, the script said.

Fundraisers were told that if asked for information on Sekulow, they should say: “He never charges for his services”. Since 2000, the not-for-profit group and an affiliate have steered more than $60m to Sekulow, members of his family and businesses where they hold senior roles.

The contract was signed with the Ohio-based firm Donor Care Center and covers Case fundraising activities in at least 16 states. It came into effect on 1 June and lasts until 31 May 2018. The Guardian on Tuesday reported that Sekulow approved a similar plan to press low-income people for donations in 2009.

Sekulow and Case brought several legal challenges against Barack Obama’s administration over the former president’s signature healthcare law but currently lead no active federal cases focused on fighting it, according to a review of district court dockets. They have more recently filed briefs supporting Trump’s travel ban. Sekulow did not respond to questions about how new donations would be spent.

The 2017 script for Case’s telemarketers detailed only the latest in a series of forceful requests for money the group has made over recent years. Scripts for several years were obtained by the Guardian. The not-for-profit group raises more than $40m a year, most from small contributions made by Christians across the US who receive alarmist political messages by telephone or in the mail.

At the height of last year’s presidential election, Sekulow instructed his telephone fundraisers to “listen, empathize, [and] relate” to people who said they could not afford to donate to Case, before pushing these people twice more for an “urgently needed gift”. A script signed by Sekulow told the marketers to “overcome [the] objection” to donating, and to tell the person on the line that “many people are finding ways to help with smaller amounts as well”.

Telemarketers for Case have over the years delivered frightening warnings about a variety of issues, depicting Christians in the US as under siege from both Muslim terrorists and a liberal political elite led by a president supposedly desperate to increase the national abortion rate.

“Islamic extremists are headed in your direction, and you are most likely the main target,” Sekulow himself told people in a recorded message used in fundraising calls during 2011. Telemarketers were instructed to tell people who initially said they could not donate that Islamist extremists “will succeed if we don’t do something RIGHT AWAY.” If the person resisted a second time, the script said to tell them: “It sounds like you really WANT to help.”

In 2010, the Case fundraisers were given a special script to deal with people who declined to donate because they were contributing to relief efforts following that year’s deadly earthquake in Haiti. Fundraisers were told to say that while the Haiti disaster was “a terrible tragedy”, some people were managing to give money to Sekulow’s not-for-profit group as well. The person on the line was told that doing so would mean “protecting your family”.

People receiving calls in 2010 who declined to donate on the grounds that they could generally not afford to contribute were told by telemarketers: “I wouldn’t call if this weren’t an absolute emergency,” and that abortions would be funded by Obamacare. “Just in the time that we’ve talked, three more innocent babies have lost their lives,” said the marketers’ script.If still resistant to donating, people were to be told: “Millions of lives may be at stake.”

Case’s marketing callers have focused on grim stories about abortion year after year. People who initially resisted a request to donate money in 2012 were told: “Unbelievably, through Obamacare, Planned Parenthood could run a healthcare clinic in your child’s or grandchild’s middle school or high school and receive federal tax dollars to do it”.

Callers in 2014 who said they could not donate were warned: “It’s clear that Planned Parenthood’s primary motivation is the dollar.” That year, Sekulow’s not-for-profit groups paid him and three companies where he held leading roles $4.8m in compensation and contracts. His brother, Gary, received a pay package totalling $848,649 for being chief financial officer and chief operating officer. A production company owned by Gary’s wife, Pam, was paid $677,300 in contracts. Gary and Pam’s son, Adam, received $237,295 as director of development. Another $139,529 in compensation was shared by Jay Sekulow’s wife, the secretary of the not-for-profit groups, and their two sons, who were directors.

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