Alex Rodriguez Only Gave $5,090 Of The $403,862 He Raised For Charity To Charity
Alex Rodriguez Only Gave $5,090 Of The $403,862 He Raised For Charity To Charity
A foundation started by New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez gave only 1 percent of proceeds to charity during its first year of operation in 2006, then stopped submitting mandatory financial reports to the IRS and was stripped of its tax-exempt status. Yet the group's website still tells visitors the A-Rod Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization.
Rodriguez talked openly about his desire to reverse bad publicity in 2006 after being exposed as a member of an underground poker club. He started a foundation and teamed with rapper Jay-Z to host a celebrity poker tournament for charity.
"I got in some trouble for poker last year, so why not turn it around and raise some money for the children?" Rodriguez said in an interview with MLB.com at the time.
The event helped the A-Rod Family Foundation raise $403,862 in 2006, but little found its way to charity, according to IRS records. The foundation gave $5,000 to Jay-Z's Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund and $90 to a Little League Baseball club in Miami.
