Almost any night of the week around Los Angeles, one charity or another holds a glitzy fundraising benefit, backed by a Hollywood star.
But many celebrities appear at these events not solely out of the goodness of their hearts. They come to line their pockets.
Actor David Schwimmer, who has made many millions of dollars starring in NBC's "Friends," received a pair of Rolex watches worth $26,413 in advance of a 1997 charity gala that had among its intended beneficiaries the John Wayne Cancer Institute.
Charity events -- Not all of the charities and institutions mentioned in an article on the front page of Section A on Dec. 8 about event promoter Aaron Tonken had knowledge of his plans or his dealings with celebrities.
Aaron Tonken -- A Dec. 8 article about event promoter Aaron Tonken on the front page of Section A said Bill Cosby had been sent a contract by the William Morris Agency stating that he was to receive a luxury sedan for a charity event. A Steve Lopez column in the California section Dec. 10 made a similar reference to the car. The article and the column should have made it clear that the sedan would have been for Cosby's use only as transportation to and from the event, which never was held.
Singer Engelbert Humperdinck, as partial payment for a 1998 benefit appearance at the Friars Club, received two Cartier watches priced at $8,500 each.
Piano legend Ray Charles picked up $75,000 for a four-song appearance at a 2002 SHARE (Share Happily and Reap Endlessly) gala in Santa Monica, which was to benefit developmentally disabled children.
All three events were among more than a dozen organized in recent years by Aaron Tonken, a Los Angeles event promoter, who in November was charged by federal authorities with two counts of fraud related to charitable fundraising. Tonken's lawyer, Alan Rubin, said his client was expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Sources have said Tonken was negotiating a plea agreement.
Meanwhile, federal authorities and their counterparts in state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer's office are trying to figure out what happened to as much as $7 million in funds that were raised in connection with Tonken-organized events but never made it to designated charities.
According to those familiar with the inquiry -- and more than 2,000 pages of financial records and other documents obtained by The Times -- it appears that little of the money was kept by Tonken himself.
Rather, it was spent on -- and sometimes demanded by -- those who needed it the least: the rich and famous, and their hangers-on.
It is a practice, say those familiar with the Hollywood fundraising scene, that the Tonken case has exposed but that is hardly limited to those events with which he was connected.
"Stars know they can literally steal from charity," said Steven Fox, a Monterey businessman who worked with Tonken on a 1995 fundraiser for the Tommy Lasorda Jr. Memorial Foundation, named after the baseball legend's late son. "Otherwise, they don't perform. They don't appear."
- A Charitable Role May 25, 1999
- Performing for tsunami relief Feb 04, 2005
- Robert C. Clements; Entertainment Industry Publicist Mar 28, 1998
