New Massachusetts Rules Target Financial Abuses

According to reports, in recent years attorneys from Reilly's Public Charities Division have seen an increase in the number of organizations facing serious financial problems. Last year, Reilly reached an agreement to return more than $4 million to a prominent family charitable trust, the Cabot Foundation, after family member Paul Cabot Jr. allegedly used large sums of money "for his own personal purposes." Also last year, Reilly required David J. Cortiella, the former director of two Boston-based charities focused on providing affordable housing and social services, to return more than $170,000 that he had allegedly taken without board authorization.