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AP
Award-winning “Three Cups of Tea” author Greg Mortenson has agreed to pay $1 million to a nonprofit he co-founded to settle allegations that he misspent charity money on personal items such as plane flights for family vacations and iTunes downloads, the Montana attorney general said Thursday.
In a 44-page report, Attorney General Steve Bullock said a yearlong investigation by his office concluded that Mortenson mismanaged his nonprofit, the Bozeman-Mont.-based Central Asia Institute, and personally profited from it.
“Mortenson’s pursuits are noble and his achievements are important. However, serious internal problems in the management of CAI surfaced,” Bullock said in the report.
Mortenson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment through the Central Asia Institute. Interim director Anne Beyersdorfer told The Associated Press that the author will continue to be a paid employee, promoting CAI and building relationships overseas, but will no longer be on the board of directors.
“While we respectfully disagree with some of the analysis and conclusions in the OAG’s report, we look forward to moving ahead as an even stronger organization, focusing on CAI’s vital mission,” Beyersdorfer said in a separate statement on the CAI website.
“CAI has always been a small group of dynamic, mission-centric individuals doing extraordinary work. Mistakes were made during a rapid period of growth, and we have corrected or are in the process of correcting them.”
Mortenson became a huge name in philanthropy – and quite wealthy – after his 2006 book, “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time,” became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. He followed up with another bestseller, “Stones into Schools,” in 2009.
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In “Three Cups,” Mortenson tells of how his failed 1993 attempt to climb K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain, resulted in a series of happenstance encounters that led him to establish schools for impoverished children in the remote villages of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But his reputation as an international philanthropist and globetrotting do-gooder became tarnished after an April 2011 “60 Minutes” report in which author and fellow climber Jon Krakauer cited witness accounts that contradicted essential parts of Mortenson’s version of his experiences in South-Central Asia. The report also raised questions about the way his charity’s funds were being managed and spent.
The report led to an investigation by the Montana attorney general’s office, which reviewed thousands of pages of documents and took sworn statements from Mortenson and others.
Bullock noted the investigation did not focus on whether Mortenson lied in his books, and it didn’t turn up evidence of conduct that could lead to criminal prosecution. Instead, it looked into CAI’s arrangements with Mortenson concerning his books and speaking engagements, as well as the financial affairs of the charity.
The probe found that the Central Asia Institute had spent about $3.96 million since 2006 to buy copies of "Three Cups of Tea," which were then distributed to libraries, schools, the military and others. Mortenson was supposed to provide a contribution to CAI equal to the amount of royalty payments he received from the book purchases, but failed to do so, investigators concluded.
The report also noted that Mortenson made hundreds of public appearances and speaking engagements to promote the book and CAI, often receiving sizable speaking fees. At the same time that the CAI was paying for his travel costs, many event sponsors were paying for similar costs. “Thus, Mortenson was ‘double dipping,’" the report said.
In one of the most damning passages, the report said:
“Mortenson, in particular, consistently failed to comply with either commonly accepted business practices or CAI’s policy manual with respect to documenting expenses charged on CAI’s accounts. The issue was repeatedly raised through the years. Board members testified that despite requests, cajoling, demands and admonitions, they were unsuccessful in getting Mortenson to submit proper documentation to support the charges he was making to the charity.
The board went so far as to provide Mortenson with a personal assistant while traveling. This, however, also failed, as the personal assistant, himself, did not adequately comply with expense reimbursement requirements, nor did he cure the problems relating to Mortenson’s expenses.
The more significant issue was not simply compliance with expense reimbursement and documentation policies, but the nature and magnitude of charges for which inadequate documentation exists. Through the years, Mortenson charged substantial personal expenses to CAI. These include expenses for such things as LL Bean clothing, iTunes, luggage, luxurious accommodations, and even vacations."
Under the settlement agreement, Mortenson must reimburse the charity more than $1 million. Nearly half has already been repaid.
Mortenson underwent surgery in June 2011 to repair a hole in his heart, and he later stepped down as executive director of the organization.
Beyersdorfer said the fallout from the investigation won't detract from the Central Asia Institute's mission of helping children in fofgotten places.
"News fatigue about Pakistan and Afghanistan is evident everywhere we look these days. But the children and their parents, village elders, and teachers with whom we work cannot look away; this is about their futures," she said in a statement. "Greg and our overseas managers have dedicated their lives to helping fulfill countless dreams and aspirations and we are honored to continue our life-changing work together."
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Oh man, I'm just tired of reading these items day after day and occasionally being compelled to respond as well. I want to be free from this! I've tried and tried, but news headlines are so tempting to look into for me. Besides just jumping off the planet, anybody have a good idea or two as to how to shake this habit? I don't mean drinking, or anything like that. It's Friday night coming on and I'll likely imbibe a bit anyway, so thanks for thinking that suggestion whoever you might be. Be kind with any responses. I don't need 'Get a life' type comments. Meanwhile, if I can be excused, I'm off to buy a newspaper and have a read. Then later, to console myself, a Margarita or two to alter my outlook a bit. Good weekend, y'all.
The story glosses over other serious challenges to his claims and the scope of the charity work, although overall it seems to be he didn't exactly do what he did how he said he did it when he said he did it, but --overall good was accomplished and he enjoyed the perks of celebrity.
....
Sure it is easy to hate liberal phonies, but in all fairness, the scope of his charity is not imaginary.
FYI: The “60 Minutes” report...questioned details of Mortenson’s account and in particular his assertion that he had been captured and detained by the Taiiban. (Tribesmen who appeared in photos with Mortenson denied they were Taliban members.) The report also claimed that many of the schools CAI says it founded either didn’t exist or were organized by others.
According to Central Asia Institute project master list of verified projects, there are about 185 schools up and running. The government of Pakistan did an investigation and found that only two schools were non functioning.
www.ikat.org/wp-includes/documents/masterprojectlist.pdf
I don't know what the average of 'non-functioning' schools we have in USA in the inner city or rural areas, but seems like 99% functioning schools and 1% non-functioning is not a bad ratio.
In the USA, in the top six areas of international rated testing scores (math, science etc), we only rank in the top twenty in two subjects and those are near the bottom.
Small minds take this sad story of a defective man and inject politics into it. Mind your own house.
Fact check before you send the check. I'm sure the guy is a good guy, but he needs tighter reins on his company/nonprofit.
I hope my money from purchase of the book becomes postive.
What an ass.
I am a liberal btw.
This feels like one of the stories that is hard to determine the ultimate truth, whether he misspent, whether he was careless, whether he intentionally stole, etc etc etc. I'm going to choose to believe he was simply careless.
However, did anyone notice the part about his charity being the purchaser of $4 million worth of his books so it could hand those books out to schools, the military etc. I'm just curious as to how much these purchases contributed to the book becoming a bestseller. Even if the charity purchased those books for $20 a book, which is extremely doubtful, that is 200,000 books. Was he labeled a bestseller, became rich and semi-famous, simply because his charity bought all the books and not the public? For me, that is the more interesting part of the story.
"It's [“Into Thin Air”] there in print forever. It's part of history. People should be above taking someone else down. And for what? For money and egos people are willing to destroy other people to further their careers."
-- David Breashears, (“Improper Bostonian”, Sept 24, 1997)
Last year, Daniel Glick wrote: “I believe in the importance of journalism to ferret out charlatans, expose financial fraud, and hold people and institutions accountable. That said, it’s hard to believe why “60 Minutes” decided that Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute qualified on any of those fronts – much less why Jon Krakauer joined in this recent barrage.”
On April 17, 2011 CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired their expose of Greg Mortenson (best-selling author of “Three Cups of Tea”). Jon Krakauer (best-selling author of “Into Thin Air”) said that Mortenson tells a “beautiful story, and it’s a lie” and “uses Central Asia Institute (CAI) as his private ATM machine.”
This expose resulted in a dramatic drop in Mortenson’s book sales and donations to CAI. So, it’s rather ironic that after his break with Mortenson in 2004, Krakauer had written: “I still believe in CAI’s mission … I don’t want to make any public statements that would have a negative impact on Greg’s work….”
So then, seven years later, what prompted Jon Krakauer to speak out on “60 Minutes” and write his e-book “Three Cups of Deceit”? Well, Krakauer was not just a “jilted crank” or “crusading do-gooder” outraged by literary deceit and lax accounting practices. It appears that Krakauer’s e-book was a publicity stunt whose publication was timed with the “60 Minutes” broadcast (largely based on research spoon-fed to them by Krakauer) to create the “buzz” to raise the investment capital needed to launch his old friend (former “Outside” Editor) Mark Bryant’s start-up of Byliner.com.
It doesn’t appear that the Montana AG found evidence of criminal activity. However, once Mortenson comes out of seclusion, he certainly needs to answer questions about his literary and financial practices. But, I believe Krakauer also needs to answer questions about how he “got onto the Mortenson story” (but, like Mortenson, Krakauer isn’t talking to the press).
Overall, I believe Daniel Glick has offered the most balanced commentary on this affair: “[‘60 Minutes’ and Jon Krakauer’s assault was overkill] lacking in basic elements of fairness, balance, perspective, insight and context. … Mortenson is neither a saint nor a charlatan; Krakauer is not either a jilted crank or a crusading do-gooder. There are nuances, debatable “facts” and conflicting motivations in almost every situation, messy and at times seemingly irreconcilable. This is no exception.”
. . .
Note: An un-abridged version of this post (with hyperlinks, more detailed quotes, and complete references can be found in the chapter, “With Three Cups of Luck?” in the Krakauer post at the feralfirefighter blog.