More Trouble for Hannity's Charity

When conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel alleged that Sean Hannity’s Freedom Concerts were “a huge scam,” she was mostly dismissed as a lunatic (not without good reason—she is, among other things, a birther). But it looks like she may have been on to something: On Monday, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and the Internal Revenue Service, charging Hannity, the Freedom Concerts, the Freedom Alliance, and Oliver North with “illegal and deceptive marketing practices by suggesting that all money generated by ticket sales for the Freedom Concerts he sponsors each summer goes to scholarships for children of killed and wounded service members.” The concerts are staged by Premiere Marketing, which “donates an unknown portion of the concert proceeds to the Freedom Alliance.” Hannity has said “100 percent of the donations are applied to the Freedom Alliance scholarship fund,” while North has said “Every penny that’s donated or that’s raised through things like the Freedom Concerts goes to the scholarship fund.” CREW also asks the IRS to consider revoking Freedom Alliance’s charitable tax status because the organization engages in prohibited political activities.