Colorado Charity to Dissolve Under Minnesota Settlement

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Minnesota's attorney general says a Colorado-based charity has agreed to spend $425,000 on programs benefiting veterans and then dissolve itself to settle allegations it falsely promised donors to use their money to buy phone cards for service members and their families.

The settlement filed Thursday says the TREA Memorial Foundation raised more
than $340,000 from Minnesotans between 2012 and 2017, often with promises that
donations would go for phone cards to let service members or veterans call home.

But Attorney General Lori Swanson says those representations were false, and
the foundation didn't buy a single phone card for veterans after 2014.

Representatives of the Centennial, Colorado-based group did not immediately answer requests for comment. The settlement says the foundation neither admits nor denies the alleged violations of Minnesota charity laws.