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Dear Brothers In
Christ,
My name is XXX
XXXXXXXXX, and I am the former board member and
treasurer of Stan Telchin Ministries (hereafter
noted as: STM). I am writing this letter concerning
Stan Telchin with a heavy heart because it is
something I would rather not do, and hoped I would
not have to do. Unfortunately, my hopes have
not been realized.
Your first thought
may well be to simply throw this letter away
without reading further. After all, Stan Telchin is
a man you know and respect; a man with an
acknowledged worldwide ministry. You may believe
this to be just finger pointing from an unknown
quantity. If our situations were reversed, I
confess I might reach the same conclusion.
I assure you my
purpose in writing is not to attack Stan. Rather,
it is a cry from my heart that perhaps someone he
knows and trusts can convince him his stewardship
of God's money has not been all that it should
be. I tried to show him and failed.
Why have I waited
this long to speak out? Simply because I believed
that sooner or later someone whom Stan respects
would realize the concerns repeatedly expressed by
Chris Lee are valid. I did not, and do not
now, wish to embarrass Stan to his many friends.
Some of those friends have been on his board, and I
did not wish to reveal to them - or to anyone else
who does not already know - things I learned that
troubled me deeply.
Sadly, no one took
Chris' allegations seriously. As a result, the
ministry finds itself in a situation that is beyond
anything I could have ever imagined. Please
understand that is not a criticism of anyone,
simply and observation.
It has been my
privilege to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and
Savior for over fifty years. One of the things I
have learned in my Christian walk is that we're all
sinners saved by grace, and that we all fail to
live up to God's desires for us. Still, we have an
obligation to do the best we can, including the
careful handling of the monies He entrusts to us.
We must take pains to do what is right, not only in
the eyes of the Lord but also in the sight of men.
(2 Cor. 8:21)
Please understand I
am not judging Stan's character - only God can do
that. However, I believe he has not taken pains to
do what is right with his ministry's finances. I'm
not some wide-eyed troublemaker who has discovered
a minor accounting error and is trying to make the
most of it. Stan Telchin has done nothing to
me personally so I'm not trying to "get back" at
him. What I am doing is speaking on behalf of the
many supporters of his ministry who are unaware of
how some of their contributions have been
used. For their sakes, I pray you will
listen.
I wish with all my
heart I could tell you the following items are the
sum total of what I believe has been wrongdoing. It
grieves me to say there is more - much more.
However, I hope an objective evaluation of the
following statements will be enough to convince you
that the financial problems with STM involve more
than just a couple thousand dollars worth of floor
tile.
BUSINESS MILES CLAIMED
In 1999, Stan
claimed to have driven 11,886 business miles, and
reimbursed himself accordingly (STM check # 1684
dated 12/28/99 for $3,729.23) . click
here to view this transaction I was not on the
board for most of 1999, but did socialize with Stan
and Ethel frequently, and thus was aware of Stan's
schedule. I do not believe he drove anywhere near
that number of business miles.
You may wonder why
I did not question this claim at the next annual
board meeting. I'm convinced someone - if not
me - would have inquired into just that, had we
been afforded the opportunity. See the
following item for an explanation.
Likewise, in 2000,
he claimed to have driven 8,694 business miles,
despite - in his own words - months of inactivity
(STM check # 2104 dated 12/19/00 for
$2,825.55). Again, I question the number of
miles claimed.
However, it is not
my responsibility to prove the number of miles
incorrect. It is Stan's responsibility to prove
they are correct. I suggest you ask Stan to
substantiate his mileage claims, as provided in
Section 274 of the Internal Revenue Code, and
referenced in the STM corporate documents.
That substantiation requires the date and place of
travel, the mileage driven, the purpose of the
trip, and the person or persons contacted (US Code,
Title 26, Section 274, paragraph (d)).
FINANCIAL REPORTING
This item is
mentioned only because of its relation to the
business miles claimed. At the annual meeting
of directors, Stan provided financial reports
covering only part of the year. (I have served as a
director on four other 501(c)(3) non profit
organizations and never before received a financial
report that did not cover an entire fiscal
year). All of the financial reports (that I
could find) prepared for annual board meetings of
STM covered either nine or ten months operation,
never an entire calendar year (the fiscal year for
STM).
There are two
problems associated with this kind of reporting.
First, it does not meet the reporting requirements
of the state of Maryland, where STM was
incorporated (Maryland Statute 2-313 (a)). Second,
any transactions made in the last two or three
months of the year are not reported to the
directors unless Stan chooses to disclose
them. For example, in the case of the 1999
mileage claim, this information was not included in
the financial report to the board; therefore the
claim went unquestioned.
CELL PHONE USAGE
At the special
board meeting on January 25, 2001, Stan requested
the board approve paying for his cell phone from
ministry funds. As I recall, Rev. Rosen modified
the motion (made by Jim Capo) to require Stan to
pay for excess calls in the event of extensive
overuse. Although somewhat puzzled, I voted to
approve this motion, which was unanimously passed
(STM board minutes for 1/25/01, page 1).
Why was I
puzzled? Stan was already having the ministry
pay for his cell phone: $926.91 in 1999, and
$1,056.89 in 2000. That's almost $2,000 worth of
ministry funds he used, apparently without
authorization. I suggest you ask Stan to
explain.
MEALS AND ENTERTAINMENT IN
1999
In a memorandum to
the board dated January 15, 2001, Stan said: "I
have not kept accurate records of meals and
entertainment expenses incurred for the ministry in
2000." (Referenced memorandum, page 3, item
4)
That statement is
untrue. Stan kept detailed records of the meals and
entertainment he charged to the ministry in
2000. For your information, there were 15
charges made for a total of (1,585.41 (STM checking
category detail report, dated February 1, 2001,
page 12). Of special interest is the fact that he
made $489.66 worth of charges in the period between
9/22 and 10/13 (AT&T Universal Business Card
statement for billing period 9/6/00 to
10/16/00). He spent most of his time in
Sarasota during this period, as he was preparing
for his wedding in November.
I suggest you ask
Stan to substantiate all of these charges by
providing the date, amount of the charge, person or
persons hosted and business purpose of the
meals.
A DUPLICATE PAYMENT
I commenced and
audit with Stan of the corporation's finances on
January 4, 2001. It did not proceed in an orderly
fashion, as most credit card statement were
missing. I did find enough information to
question him about January 2000 expenses, so that's
where we started. (I told him I intended to review
every credit card transaction for the past 24
months, and he would have to order duplicate
statement for that that were missing. He
never ordered them, to my knowledge.)
The check register
listing, dated December 2, 2000 showed check #
1727, dated 1/29/00, written to Stan Telchin in the
amount of $1,448.58 (Referenced report, page 32)
click here to
view this transaction . I asked him the purpose of
this check, and he replied he was reimbursing
himself for a credit card payment he had made from
his checking account. Having established that, I
then asked him why check # 1713 dated 1/13/00
had been written to Chase Gold Visa for exactly the
same amount (Referenced report, page 30). He
replied he must have paid the bill twice. I
told him that was not a problem, as the duplicate
payment would show up on the following month's
statement as a credit. After quite a bit of
searching, we did locate the February 2000 Chase
Gold Visa statement. It showed a single payment of
$1,448.58 received on January 17, 2000 (Referenced
statement, closing date of 1/26/00). The ministry's
canceled check (#1713) was in the files, so the
payment on the statement was check # 1713.
click here to view
this transaction
Stan made no
comment, and it was obvious from the look on his
face that he had been found out. I spared him the
embarrassment of asking to see the canceled check
from his account; there wasn't one and we both knew
it. A few days later, I received some
information from him along with "my check for
$1,448.58" (Handwritten note from Stan
Telchin).
CABLE TELEVISION BILL
When Stan relocated
to Florida in 1999, he asked me whom I used as my
Internet Service Provider. I told him I used
Comcast, and found their broadband fiber optic
cable system very fast. In fact, I suggested he use
them for the ministry's computer system, and he
followed my suggestion. The monthly fee for this
service was $39.95 at the time.
In 2000, the
ministry paid $1,478.83 to Comcast for "Internet
and cable." (STM category detail report, page
11) The Comcast billing office told me that
in addition to the Internet access, the ministry
also paid for preferred commercial television,
premium channel Home Box Office, trial periods of
premium channels Showtime and The Movie Channel and
two "set up" units that allowed for pay-per-view
channels (The records that show this are in Stan's
possession, but you can call Comcast at
941-371-6700, and refer to account
#15515-914012-02-8 for service at 5508 Vinci
Circle.)
You may be thinking
that Stan has a housing allowance, and it's his
business how he spends the money. You're right, but
the allowance includes utilities (IRS Publication
525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, page 10). Items
such as phone and cable television bills are to be
paid FROM the stipulated amount, not in addition to
it. Stan drew $2,000 a month as a housing
allowance and should have paid the Comcast bills
from his own accounts, not from the ministry's
account.
THE AUTO LEASE
Shortly after I
obtained a printout of the STM check register, I
noticed a check written to Stan Telchin with the
notation "75% of lease amount - Auto Expense
Reimbursement." The check is # 1919, dated
11/8/00 in the amount of $421.07 (Register listing
dated December 2, 2000, page 65). click
here to view this transaction
When I commenced
the audit, I questioned Stan about this
payment. He said Elaine (his new wife) had
gone to lease a car, but couldn't qualify for the
lease. So he gave her his old car and took the
lease out in his name. When I asked why STM was
paying three-quarters of the lease, he said his
accountant told him he could "reasonably" claim 75%
of the car was for business use. I told him the
accountant was entitled to give his opinion, but
that did not constitute approval of the expense,
and the board would have to consider his
request.
Before this
conversation took place in January 2001, Stan again
paid himself the same amount for the auto lease for
December 2000 (Transaction detail report, dated
February 4, 2001, page 13). The check was
number 2105, dated 12/19/00. Bear in mind that Stan
also paid himself for business miles allegedly
driven in 2000 on the same day, in fact with the
preceding check, # 2104.
I was confident
someone on the board would closely question the
leasing activity when Stan brought it up at our
special meeting on January 25, 2001. However,
he never mentioned that he was already charging the
ministry for leasing. Instead, he misled the board,
in my opinion, by telling the board there was
already a provision in the corporate documents for
a monthly payment of $400.00.
The minutes of the
meeting state: "Stan pointed out there is presently
an authorization from the board for a $400 per
month automobile expense reimbursement plan for his
use" (Minutes from referenced meeting, page 4, item
F).
I was dumbfounded
by this statement, which I knew was not true,
having recently reviewed the corporate documents. A
motion was quickly made and seconded to approve
such a payment from ministry funds. I chose
not to discuss the motion, as to have done so would
have exposed Stan to his friends. However, I
could not vote for this proposal so I
abstained. The motion was approved.
I believe that I
could show Stan where he was mistaken, and the
action of the board could be overturned by a later
"paper vote" with board members signing to indicate
their approval of a new motion.
Stan was furious
with me (for abstaining) as we went into the office
where the documents were stored. He said
angrily: "Am I going to have trouble with you?
Because if I am, you can leave the board right
now!" I knew he could simply call for a
special meeting of the Members of the corporation
(Stan, his wife, and me) and vote me off the board.
(He had threatened to do this at an earlier meeting
with another board member who had displeased him in
some way, but I talked him out of it.)
I located the auto
expense plan, part of a consent drawn up by the
board during its startup phase. (Consent in Lieu of
Organizational Meeting, July 7, 1994, page 4) it
reads:
RESOLVED: THAT THE
REIMBURSEMENT OF AUTOMOBILE EXPENSES TO THE
OFFICERS OF THE CORPORATION, UPON SUBSTANTIATION OF
THOSE EXPENSES AS REQUIRED UNDER SECTION 274 OF THE
INTERNAL REVENUE CODE, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED
$400 PER PERSON BE, AND HEREBY IS, AFFIRMED,
RATIFIED AND APPROVED.
I asked Stan where
to $400 per month appeared, and he said it was
"implied," adding that it was "ridiculous" to think
it meant $400 a year. He made no mention of the
fact that the consent had the words "upon
substantiation" and referenced Section 274 of the
IRS code. Clearly, this consent was referring to
reimbursement of auto expense MILEAGE and nothing
more. Stan deceived the board into approving
something that did not exist, and substantiating
something before the fact, a contradiction in
terms.
TRIP TO NEW HAMPSHIRE
In April 2000, Stan
took a personal trip to visit his daughter Judy. In
a memorandum to the board, he said: "I flew to New
Hampshire to see them and inadvertently used the
ministry credit card to purchase the ticket."
(Referenced memo dated January 15, 2001, page 3,
item 5) He said he'd repay the ministry once he was
able to determine the cost of the ticket.
I don't know about
the airfare, but I do know he charged the ministry
$502.91 for two transactions for "The Inn at
Exeter, New Hampshire." A transaction for $69.91
was made on 4/16/00, and another for $433.00 was
made on 4/17/00 (AT&T Universal Business Card,
billing period 4/6/00-5/5/00).
The credit card
used was issued to Stan Telchin Ministries. It's
difficult to believe this was an "inadvertent"
charge, as Stan's personal credit card is the Chase
Gold Visa, and the ministry business card is a
Cititbank Master Card. Other then being the same
size, I believe there is little similarity between
the two.
When a card
statement is received, Stan examines each
transaction. On the bottom of the statement he
splits the charges into various categories for
accounting allocation. This information is
entered into the Quicken program, so that
while one check is written to cover the total
charge, the software keeps track of individual
categories.
In the case of the
referenced statement, the total charge was
$1,032.53 click here to
view this transaction and paid with ministry check #
1819, dated 6/7/00 (Register listing dated December
2, 2000, page 48). Stan splits this total as
follows:
Office
Supplies: $169.17
Miscellaneous:
$16.87
Meals:
$142.37
Medical:
$165.21
Travel:
$502.91
Postage:
$36.00
TOTAL:
$1,032.53
Even if he had
inadvertently used the ministry's card for the
trip, it seems unlikely he would not have realized
this when looking at the statement line-by-line.
Otherwise, how could he have placed the charges for
"The Inn at Exeter, New Hampshire" into the travel
category? Stan knew he charged personal travel to
the ministry, coded it as business travel, and STM
paid for it (Category detail report, dated February
1, 2001, page 23)
In summary, I
realize anyone can type anything on a piece of
paper, and the comments in this letter do not
constitute proof of anything. I urge you to obtain
the referenced documentation from Stan, get his
perspective on these items, and then draw your own
conclusions on his stewardship. And ask yourself
how Stan's stewardship of God's money appears "in
the eyes of the Lord and in the sight of
men."
Some time has
passed since I discovered these and other items.
Perhaps by now Stan has repaid every penny that he
should not have taken. But restitution is not the
issue here. The real issue is why he did what he
did in the first place.
How did all of this
(and much more) happen? I heard a speaker on
local Christian radio make the following
observation:
"When people operate autonomously
in a ministry, they often forget they are stewards
of God's money and become owners."
Perhaps that is
what happened with Stan Telchin Ministries. I hope
and pray you gentleman can find out.
Respectfully,
(signed)
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XXX
XXXXXXXXX
Sarasota,
Florida 34292
telephone: 941 XXX-XXXX
e-mail: XXXXXXXXX@comcast.net
cc: Chris
Lee
Rev. S. McKnight
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