Military Charity Banned For Defrauding Donors: Minnesota AG

ST. PAUL, MN—A company claiming to ship care packages to service members overseas has been banned from doing business in Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Attorney General's office.

AG Keith Ellison's office announced Friday it obtained a judgment against a company that calls itself Contributing 2 Combatants and Coast 2 Coast Marketing, owned by Jason Choinski. The company must pay $70,966 in restitution for Minnesota residents, and $884,000 in civil penalties to the state.

"... the company went door to door in Minnesota neighborhoods and misrepresented that C2C was a nonprofit soliciting donations to send care packages to servicemembers overseas. Choinski then spent the funds collected for his personal use and did not spend a single dollar on care packages since C2C’s inception in July 2018," a news release from Ellison's office states.

C2C solicited around the Twin Cities, across greater Minnesota, and in other states. Ellison's office said the company "advertised the cost of shipping a care package to service members overseas through door-to-door solicitation" and misrepresented itself as a nonprofit, when it was a for-profit business that never partnered with any charity. Instead, a lawsuit alleged, Choinski used all the funds himself.

“Choinski’s conduct in this case was reprehensible. He used C2C to take advantage of Minnesotans who wanted to help our military servicemembers who are actively defending our country,” Attorney General Ellison said. “Our servicemembers overseas are making sacrifices for us every day and we will not stand by and allow their sacrifices to be exploited. This judgment ensures that Choinski and C2C can never engage in this conduct again.”