New Jersey Sues Hurricane Sandy Charity It Says Was Stealing Donations

The state of New Jersey has sued the founders of a group called The Hurricane Sandy Relief Foundation for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations meant for victims. According to the lawsuit, the Sparta-based couple, John Sandberg and Christina Terraccino, have given away only about $1,600 in aid out of the $630,000 they received from 2,000 donors. The foundation claims to support three different mini-funds, for New Jersey, New York City, and Staten Island. Which is weird, because Staten Island is in New York City. The couple–he’s a real estate broken, she’s an unemployed bookkeeper–also apparently used the donations to pay off credit card bills and eat out.

The foundation’s website–SandyRelief.org–doesn’t list its founders, or really anything about itself. It also features non-grammatical sentences like: “With an anticipated of 6-8 year recovery and 2 year clean up this will not be a sprint, it will be a marathon.” When I called the 800-number listed for the charity, I got this message: “Due to heavy phone traffic we are unable to take your call at this time.” [Star-Ledger]