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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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Some of the accusations against him are pretty difficult to respond to.
What can he say?
I predict that we may hear more from him but not for months. And when the dust settles, he will have explained some of the charges, but the fact will remain that he made a personal fortune on the back of CAI and his "story."
He will go on quietly with his life, living a life of quiet leisure that a small fortune allows. I suspect he has a net worth of at least several million dollars--enough so that he can support himself without having to work again.
He will not go to prison, but he may possibly have some tax liabilities.
CAI will wither away as donations stop coming in.
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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I think he could turn it around, but I don't think it is likely.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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But people are pretty forgiving when a person is truely contrite and asks for forgiveness.
Well, he just threw his co-author, editor, and publisher under the bus.
Turned out that didn't work either, and one of the main debunked stories he blamed on them was one he was telling years before he ever met his co-author.
So that ship has sailed.
Complete train wreck. Major frickin disaster for everyone involved-- him, his family, his agent/editor/co-author/publisher, his board, his donors, the support staff, the folks he worked with in country, the folks trying to work with those folks in country, folks hoping to start similar projects, folks fundraising for similar projects, the folks in the US military using this as leverage for a more location and culture friendly approach to strategic issues, folks in the US military who tied themselves to this book, and on and on and on.
It isn't exactly the apocalypse, but the problem here goes way, way, way beyond GM. I can easily imagine him rehabbing himself and showing up on the post-Oprah circuit with a heartwarming story of redemption and triumph of the human spirit 10 yrs from now.
But we're talking serious collateral damage. This is really f*#ked up.
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corniss chopper
climber
breaking the speed of gravity
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How about a 'through the looking glass' analysis that the Pakistanis
need to be totally F'd for the next several generations for their double dealing Islamic mind set of hiding Osama.
Schools will only make them more capable of screwing with us when they
get the chance. Ignorant savages are easier to defend against than educated ones.
Greg Mortenson is a hero for not building more schools than he had to.
Bravo!
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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It's still there. The Three Cups piece is now a couple of dollars and other documents are available as well:
http://www.byliner.com/
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Not a very direct response.
Apparently the sauce is weak. The trick to me are the BS stories. Literary license is for novels.
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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It's sad how much Outside Magazine has deteriorated.
I used to subscribe, but it got so bad that I was getting nothing of value out of it.
Since then, they've gotten worse.
You can pick a post at random on Supertopo and it will have more insight then a typical Outside article.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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I have been following this thread, but I didn’t want to express an opinion until I had read Jon Krakauer’s investigative report, “Three Cups of Deceit” and CAI’s response.
As one who has been involved in the non-profit world, I was shocked at the allegations of financial mismanagement and self-dealing. Many of the most damaging allegations come from insiders at CAI, including its former chief financial officer. The CFO, in a letter explaining her resignation, stated that “information given to me to be placed in the Annual Report is untrue and therefore fraudulent.” When the person in charge of a charitable organization’s finances resigns and employs the term “fraud,” that is an extraordinary red flag.
“Deceit” also quotes a tax lawyer’s letter to CAI’s board, stating that Mortenson may have received “excessive benefits” under IRS rules, in connection with payment by CAI of Mortenson’s expenses of $7,000,000 over three years.
The defenders of Mortenson assert that he is just careless, and disorganized in business affairs. In lawsuits involving financial fraud, it is rare that the defendant admits an intention to cheat or deceive people. The charge is typically proved through an accumulation of circumstantial evidence and the judge or jury infers from the evidence whether the defendant had the intent to defraud.
An organization that has taken in $60,000,000 in donations has the capability of hiring experienced staff, accountants and lawyers to ensure compliance with the detailed IRS rules, which are designed to prevent abuse by those soliciting taxpayer-subsidized donations. Krakauer documents that Mortenson has repeatedly been advised by professionals and his board of directors that CAI lacks standard financial controls and that Mortenson should properly document his expenses.
If, as it appears, Mortenson chose to continually ignore this advice, it is hard to believe that he is simply careless, since the organization clearly has the means to correct these deficiencies. At some point, one has to conclude that Mortenson is either reckless with other people’s money or is intentionally misuing it. This is a real shame because it not only taints whatever good work CAI does, it also taints the work of other non-profits who are scrupulous in spending their donor’s money.
CAI’s latest response is here:
http://www.ikat.org/wp-includes/documents/2011SpringJOH.pdf
It is either silent as to the key charges of financial improprieties [no response to its own CFO’s charge of fraud] or clumsily evasive. For example, in answering the inquiries about whether the CAI pays Mortenson’s book tour expenses while getting none of the book revenue, the response claims that flying on private jets is necessary because of his “hectic schedule”, his health, and security reasons. But it concludes, “Greg began paying his own travel expenses in January 2011.” Of course, this is a tacit admission that prior to January, 2011, CAI paid for Mortenson’s chartered jets to attend book tour events, confirming one of Krakauer’s assertions.
In response to the issue of the use of charitable donations that excessively benefit Mortenson, CAI asserts that Mortenson does benefit from the book tour and the “collaboration” between the organization and its executive director, but CAI benefits “even more.” Then it concludes with almost laughable double talk:
“Based on that assessment [an April 13, 2011 presentation to the Board] and the Board’s longtime confirmation of the effectiveness of its collaboration with Greg, the Board confirmed its intention to continue to refine and address the particulars of their relationship on an ongoing basis.”
In the interest of full disclosure, I have gotten to know JK over the last decade. To those on this forum who assert that it is jealousy that motivated him to take on this investigation, his motivation could not be more clear. “Deceit” explains that Jon donated $75,000 to CAI and believes he was conned by Mortenson. When he privately questioned CAI in 2004 about his growing doubts, he was stonewalled. To those who make gratuitous remarks impugning JK’s character, you are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts, as the saying goes. Try backing up your opinions with facts as Jon does so well.
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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Board of Directors
Abdul Jabbar – Board Chairman
English and Interdisciplinary Studies
City College of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
Karen McCown – Board Treasurer
Founder Nueva Center for Learning
Portola Valley, CA
Greg Mortenson – Board Member
CAI Executive Director
Bozeman, MT
Perhaps there should be less focus here on Greg Mortenson and more on the other two Board members, Abdul Jabbar and Karen McCown. They have as much responsibility as Mortenson to look out for CAI's interests.
The most serious allegations are not against Mortenson personally, but against CAI. They are as responsible as Mortenson for CAI's actions.
If they are going to defend the way CAI does business we should have a much better expense then the excuses Abdul Jabbar it trotting out in his latest newsletter.
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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With Mortenson out of the way, Jabbar seems to be the one left in charge.
ABDUL JABBAR, Ph.D., Instructor
Interdisciplinary Studies and Social Sciences
Ph.D. in English; graduate-level course work in political science, history, and comparative religions. Recipient of Fulbright scholarship and two National Endowment for the Humanities awards. Several publications. Latest book published in Feb 2010: Reading and Writing with Multicultural Literature
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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[quote]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/30/BU701J9UV6.DTL[/quote]
3(!) board members for that budget.
Jabbar on the JK piece and the charges: "I will read it when semester is over."
Possibly he was misquoted or misunderstood. Hopefully. At the moment, everything coming out of CAI only tends to confirm the general tenor of Krakauer's piece. And to reinforce the picture in that New Yorker article.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Rick A is "write on"! (as we editors would say)
This is nothing but a tragedy all around.
It is a personal tragedy for Greg, whose flaws will permanently follow him, now.
Could he redeem himself.....hard to say. I think this scene has to play itself out.
However, he will be permanently tainted, with respect to gov'ts and politicians. They will not want to be associated. Same for military.
It is a tragedy for the program for building schools, however anemic the effort. Most advocate that this is a good thing to do.
It is a tragedy for the NGO's that work in the region, that will inevitably be smeared by his actions, although totally unassociated.
It is a tragedy for the climbing community, which Greg represented. He comes off as a reformed dirtbag climber, who will now be thought of as reformed into a scammer, diving for people's emotions and money, rather than dumpsters. It will translate into a perception towards all climbers, "oh, you're a person like that Greg guy". How will this impact? Who knows?
And of course, for the girls who will not get an education.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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How about a 'through the looking glass' analysis that the Pakistanis
need to be totally F'd for the next several generations for their double dealing Islamic mind set of hiding Osama.
Schools will only make them more capable of screwing with us when they
get the chance. Ignorant savages are easier to defend against than educated ones.
Greg Mortenson is a hero for not building more schools than he had to.
Bravo!
While I recognize this as a troll, it unfortunately will probably be how some come to think about it.
Of course, there is a mountain of data that shows that there is a direct correlation between education of women, and reduction in violence and generaly acculturation.
You can negotiate with people who are educated, on a rational basis. You cannot often do so with uneducated people. You don't want to have to with uneducated people with nuclear weapons.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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See, this is where stuff starts to unravel.
Karen McCown is an interesting person. She and her husband have endowed a named fellowship at the Hoover Institution. He was a titan of industry, and they are very wealthy.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2001_Feb_21/ai_70703119/
This is an conservative think tank associated with Stanford.
Odd association for Greg.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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^^^^^^^
i believe that mccown is/was a climber. the whole 7 summits thing was HUGE in corporate in the 1990s, early 2000s.
high elevation climbing became a metaphor for corporate vision and commitment to excellence. and in truth, most climbs on everest really were just like the new corporate world: an underpaid, high-risk independent contractor does a lot of bureaucratic paper shuffling and logistical work, then hires 3rd world skilled labor at ridiculously low prices to drag an overpaid, overfed, and under-taxed CEO up a mountain so he can then give interviews about the triumph of entrepreneurial vision.
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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I fixed the link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/30/BU701J9UV6.DTL
When I interviewed Jabbar Friday morning, he said he had not read Krakauer's piece.
"I was put off by the title, 'Three Cups of Deceit.' It was too inflammatory," he said. "I will read it when the semester is over," in about three weeks.
That's right, the average dirtbag on Supertopo participating on this thread has spent more time in "oversight" of CAI then its Chairman of the Board!
Boards have a fiduciary duty to make sure that donor money is being spent as promised.
A strong board is especially important when the leader has star power. "When you have a charismatic leader, it's hard for the leader to know when personal business ends and the business of the organization begins," Wales says. "The organization is so much a product of their passions and personalities. Because of that reality, it is important to surround yourself with a team of professionals who can guide you."
Kim Wright-Violich, president of Schwab Charitable, said nonprofit boards are in some ways more important than corporate boards. "Nonprofit executives are in a stronger position than most corporate executives to control the information that gets in front of boards because the reporting requirements are so much more opaque," she said.
She said a board needs at least four people "so it is not vulnerable to control by the CEO." And it should have someone "who has financial expertise who can read the audited financial statements."
The fact that the institute did not produce an audited financial statement until mid-2010, for fiscal 2009, was another red flag for charity watchdogs. Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, began raising this issue publicly in April 2010.
"It is truly unusual for an organization with over $500,000 (in revenues) not to have audited financial statements," Wales says.
Prof. Jabbar, your grade is in, and it's an "F."
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Festus
Mountain climber
Enron by the Sea
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May 12, 2011 - 03:04pm PT
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I admit it was impossible for me to read this entire thread, especially the Krakauer attacks and Morentenson defenses by those who have clearly not read everything that has now come to light. But...
I've worked for non-profits for the past dozen years and what pisses me off the most is that none of these former CAI board members/insiders, who damn well knew enough of what was going on, had the balls to out Mortenson or at least force him to provide legit financials (which I really doubt he could/can do) or face the consequences. Sadly, although an extreme case in terms of how much money Mortenson may have truly stolen from CAI percentage-wise, this is the non-profit world in a nutshell. Boards are usually selected for their ability to ask few questions and keep the head guy at the helm and who, when things begin to look a little more questionable than they realized at first, simply run for the exit via resignation. It's beyond gutlessness, and I think clearly criminal, that none of these people had the sack to do the right thing. Without Krakauer this guy could continue skimming millions and millions from a reputation bought and paid for solely by the non profit he heads. Has he done some sigificant good? Absolutely. Do I even now agree with the basic premise of the first book? Yeah, in spite of the lies. But I also honestly think Mortenson should do at least 20 years in prison if the financial/misappropriation accusations prove true. And, again, it's so goddam sad that only Krakauer had the stones to dig a little deeper (come on, it didn't take much) and take this guy to task. Say what you will about the state of modern journalism, but it lives in the best sense still in writers like Krakauer. He may not always be right, but thank god he's in there trying to get it right.
With luck this is all already in the hands of the IRS and D.A.'s offices where it should have been long ago.
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aspendougy
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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May 12, 2011 - 03:12pm PT
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Twenty years in prison for Mortensen? Come on!!
If he is guilty of some criminal offense of this nature, fine him, ask him to give the money back, and forget it!
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