In December, the Sunday Telegraph (London) published a story alleging that Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty was illegally funneling money from a U.S. charity to SHAC operations in the United Kingdom.
The Telegraph reported that it sent a reporter to SHAC saying that he wanted to donate $1,300 to the group. The reporter claims he was told by SHAC activists Gregg Avery and Natasha Dellemagne — both now in jail for their role in harassing Huntingdon Life Sciences employees — that the best way to make this donation for tax purposes was to make the donation to the U.S. charity Animal Rights America.
According to the Telegraph,
Our undercover reporter was told that donating to the ARA was the perfect cover as the transaction would appear on banking records only as a contribution to a registered charity and could even qualify as a tax-deductible expense.
Dellemagne gave the reporter an account number, bank code and charity identification for Animal Rights America, and the money was transferred in July 2001.
According to the reporter, Dellemagne confirmed the money had been received and claimed that some of the money was taken out of the United States to Great Britain in cash carried in aircraft baggage.
This would be illegal under IRS rules governing charities. U.S. SHAC point man Kevin Jonas claims this never happened and that Dellemagne “must have been mistaken. Maybe she got confused.”
SHAC also criticized the Telegraph for using “tabloid-style” tactics. Right, because the activist at SHAC would never use such tactics.
Sources:
Animal rights group faces new claim. Patrick Jenkins, Financial Times (London), December 1, 2001.
Animal welfare thugs funded via US charity. Daniel Foggo, Sunday Telegraph (London), December 2, 2001.