Utah joins 18 states in suit over ‘deceptive’ charity fundraising, AG’s office says

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Attorney General’s Office said Friday that organization Kars-R-Us is accused of conducting national charity fraud. Utah and 18 other states are taking action, and they’re joined by the Federal Trade Commission.

A press release from the Utah AG’s office said Kars-R-Us and its operators, Michael Irwin and Lisa Frank, “falsely and fraudulently” represented where donations would go.

Utah, the FTC and other states filed an agreement in federal court on Thursday with Kars-R-Us. The release said the organization “solicited charitable donations for United Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.”

“(Kars-R-Us) falsely represented that vehicle donations would enable UBCF to ‘save lives’ by providing free and low-cost breast cancer screenings. But, in reality, only $126,815 or 0.28% of the total raised was used to provide actual health screenings, the complaint alleges,” the AG’s office said.

The press release stated that Utahns donated 935 cars and $365,671 over five years between 2017 and 2022. The release said Kars-R-Us had a revenue of $45.5 million, and the complaint alleges that $34.9 million of that went to paying Kars-R-Us, its operators and vendors.

“The complaint alleges that (Kars-R-Us) effectively ‘tug(ged) at donors’ heartstrings’ to maximize contributions with little regard for truthfulness or accuracy of the claims it made as to how the funds from the donations would be used,” the statement said. “Nationally, more than 84,000 well-intentioned people donated their vehicles to (Kars-R-Us).”

The AG’s office said the proposed settlement in the case would ban Irwin from fundraising, and would also put “guardrails” in place to prevent Kars-R-Us from misrepresenting its fundraising.

The statement also urged the public to investigate any charities asking for money before they donate.