Human Trafficking Charity Sued for Misuse of Funds

It crushes me to report that not all human trafficking charities may be what they seem. Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General for Connecticut, announced on Friday that he was filing a lawsuit against Raymond Bechard, Founder of Ahava Kids, Inc., claiming he spent over $100,000 in donations intended to help victims of human trafficking and orphaned children living with HIV/AIDS, on himself. Spending donors' money meant to help survivors of slavery and people living with AIDS on yourself? That's so pathetic I can't think of a witty insult.

The donations Ahava Kids received, donors were told, would go toward operating a hotline for human trafficking victims and safe houses in Connecticut and Georgia, as well as to help women and children in prostitution and their HIV positive children access life-saving AIDS medications. However, according to Blumenthal, Bechard spent the charity's money on himself at restaurants and stores, including authorizing the charity to "loan" $67,000 to for-profit companies Bechard owned.

This news didn't shock me, because I actually heard a rumor that Ahava Kids was not a legitimate organization a few months back from a listerve. I wrote Raymond Bechard an email asking him to address the allegations that were being made against him. He replied promptly. However, all the evidence I could find amounted to his word against the word of the person who leveled the allegations, so I refrained from publishing any of the our interview until I had more concrete information. However, in light of this lawsuit and the Connecticut AG's allegations, I think it appropriate to share my questions and his responses. These are edited for length and to remove the names of specific individuals and organizations who have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Amanda: The allegations against you claim no other reputable organizations that assists child victims of trafficking have ever heard of you, seen a victim you have served, or seen a shelter you run.

Bechard: We have worked with several organizations -- from service providers to law enforcement. In fact, ************* of ************ is quoted on the back of my 2006 book, Unspeakable - The Hidden Truth Behind the World's Fastest Growing Crime. Overall, *************** seems to be implying that we do not work with victims or have 'shelters.' We have worked with several victims here in the United States and have Safe Houses for young adults in Connecticut and Georgia.

Amanda: Another one is that no one answers your hotline.

Bechard: An electronic record is kept of all calls that come in to our Hotline. Our records show that ************ tried the Hotline once, on March 23rd, at 3:02 PM. I have no explanation as to why this one call was not answered, but we did respond immediately in an email.  If ************ is passing judgement on our Hotline system by one attempted phone call, to which we did respond, this seems completely unfair. I apologize for the missed call, however, it should be known that we are now working with a 19 year old victim from Connecticut who called the hotline last week as a result of our Cybervention efforts.

Amanda: It seems no one knows where your shelters are.

Bechard: This is not only untrue, but completely inaccurate. First, the ministries from which we lease the facilities are fully aware of their location and purpose, as are our Board members, our staff and others. Second, they are not 'shelters,' they are Safe Houses for young adult victims of human trafficking and prostitution. As such, yes, their locations are kept in the strictest confidence. This is for the protection of the survivors who may stay there and our staff.

Earlier in the email, he indicates that the accusations that Ahava Kids was not legitimate are unfair and leveled because his organization "has a Hebrew name" and he is a Christian male. In their investigation, the AG's office found that a legitimate safe house does exist, but it was barely used. This finding seems to jive with what Blechard was defending himself against to me -- his organization wasn't a complete sham. And from the facts that have come out so far, it seems that it wasn't. Some of the hundreds of thousands of dollars Bechard accepted in donations trickled down to trafficking victims and AIDS orphans.

But when you're taking people's money and telling them it's going to heal children surviving slavery, trickle-down economics just isn't good enough.

Photo credit: apdk