By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The United Homeless Organization claims to help the city's less fortunate, but it's really a scam designed to line the pockets of its workers that should be shut down, according to a lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Manhattanites know the UHO from the roughly 50 tables it operates around the borough, where workers — many of whom claim to be homeless — ask for donations collected in water jugs. They say the money goes to help the homeless, and it does, according to the suit. They just don't tell people they're talking about themselves.
Cuomo's lawsuit also accuses UHO founder Stephen Riley and director Myra Walker of using table rental and administrative fees as a personal piggy bank, according to the New York Post.
"Riley and Walker have co-opted a tax-exempt, charitable corporate structure for their own benefit," Cuomo said in a statement.
Cuomo alleges that Riley withdrew $85,000 from a UHO account between 2007 and 2008. The money was used to shop at Bed, Bath & Beyond, P.C. Richards, GameStop, The Home Shopping Network and to pay various Weight Watchers bills, the Post reported.
The suit asks for a temporary injunction to stop operations at the tables, with the hope of permanently closing the organization. In a further action, Riley and Walker would be prevented from working with other charitable organizations, the Post reported.
Workers pay the UHO between $15 and $25 to rent a table, water jug and tablecloth for four hours, and also get a copy of a New York State incorporation receipt to prove their legitimacy, according to the Post.
Workers solicit donations by claiming the money goes to soup kitchens, shelters and detox centers, but the UHO is not affiliated with any shelters, investigators found.
"We don't own any shelters or soup kitchens," Rodney Borders, a self-described UHO "manager," told the Post. "The money provides us with everyday money."
The workers can earn up to $80 a shift during the peak season, according to the Post.
Over the course of a year, the rental fees paid to Riley and Walker could add up to well over $100,000, the paper said.
Riley founded UHO in 1985 when he was homeless. The organization became a tax-exempt, charitable group in 1993, according to the Post.
