Can you spare a dime, for a scam?

WASHINGTON - Every cent of loose change helps.

For decades that has been the pitch of the United Homeless Organisation (UHO), whose workers operate on dozens of street corners in Manhattan, urging passersby to help provide food, clothing and hygienic services for the tens of thousands of people in New York without a home.

But if the state's top legal officer is to be believed, the charity is nothing but a scam, whose sole beneficiaries are the two people that run it and their workers.

In a lawsuit filed this week, Attorney-General Andrew Cuomo claimed their programmes to help the homeless simply do not exist.

Instead, the UHO "exploits the good intentions of people who thought they were helping fund the homeless" to channel money to its principals and workers, who then use the group's tax-exempt status "to line their own pockets".

The suit's main targets are Stephen Riley, a former homeless man who runs the UHO out of his Bronx apartment, and director Myra Walker.

Mr Cuomo says they spent much of the proceeds on personal expenses, including travel, restaurants and shopping, while doing nothing for the homeless.

By the standards of scams in New York, this one is small. The UHO's declared revenues never exceeded US$100,000 ($137,000) a year - even though Mr Cuomo said the donations and the fees for Riley and Walker were "grossly under-reported".

Riley set up the body in 1985 and won tax-exempt status in 1993. He now charges workers US$15 to US$25 to rent a table and a jar for a four-hour shift.

In return, the lawsuit says, the worker received a tablecloth, a UHO apron, plus an incorporation document from the state of New York, as proof for anyone who asked if it was a legally-sanctioned charity.

The workers keep everything over the base charge for themselves. Receipts during a shift in peak season can reach US$80, although some workers said they made no more than US$10 for themselves.

Probably because the scheme is relatively small-scale, the state is taking civil rather than criminal action against UHO.

The lawsuit seeks a temporary shutdown order, that would lead to permanent closure, and repayment by the two principals.

- INDEPENDENT