Crime & Safety

Charity Fraudster Sentenced To Prison, Probation

Kai Brockington, of Dallas, was sentenced Wednesday for running a bogus charity, illegitimately collecting nearly $700,000 over years.

ATLANTA, GA — The former operator of a bogus charity has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison, according to a release from the Department of Justice. Kai Brockington, 36, of Dallas, Georgia, will serve his prison sentence followed by three years of probation.

From 2013 through 2017, Brockington received about $668,000 in charity-matching donations from several large companies, the DOJ said, and spent the funds on himself and his family. He bought trips to Italy and Disney World, jewelry, clothing and shoes, and updated his family home with this money, according to the release.

Brockington pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud and willfully filing a false federal income tax return on May 23. He was sentenced Wednesday.

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“Brockington stole funds that could have gone to legitimate charities that helped those in need,” said U. S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “His prison sentence is a just punishment for his greed.”

Brockington is also required to pay restitution to the victim companies.

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The FBI's J. C. "Chris" Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of Bureau's Atlanta office, hopes Brockington's sentence serves as a warning to other would-be fraudsters. “Brockington undermined every legitimate charity’s work to carry out humanitarian missions with his disregard for their generosity to satisfy his own personal greed," he said.

U.S. Attorney Pak said Brockington ran "Our Genesis Project," a non-profit which was supposed to have provided health care to the underprivileged. "In reality, Our Genesis Project never conducted any actual charitable work," the release said.

The companies that fell victim to Brockington's scheme did so through charity donation matching programs, in which employees would donate and the company would match those donations.

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