Company

ALBANY — A telemarketing firm that solicited on behalf of alleged sham charities like the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation agreed to permanently close as part of a settlement to be announced Monday by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the Daily News has learned.

Menacola Marketing Inc. will dissolve and its principals, Joseph and Katherine DeGrego, will be permanently barred from fund-raising for any charities. Furthermore, as part of the settlement, they agreed to pay $100,000 that will go to legitimate veterans organizations.

“We have zero tolerance for shell charities that shamelessly exploit our veterans and other New Yorkers in need in order to line fund-raisers’ pockets,” Schneiderman said.

“New Yorkers should be able to donate with confidence and know that their money will actually support the causes advertised.”

Schneiderman’s office shut down the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation in 2016 after a probe by his charities bureau found that very little of millions of dollars raised actually went to help veterans.

Menacola also used the bogus name “American Veterans Support Foundation,” which it misleadingly said was a “special project” for the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, even though no such project existed, Schneiderman said.

The Vietnam Veterans Foundation had previously reported raising nearly $30 million in donations between 2010 and 2014, with less than 2% going to actual veterans.

Of the money raised by Menacola for the sham charity, nearly $190,000 came from New Yorkers, Schneiderman’s office said.

According to Schneiderman’s office, Menacola’s callers told potential donors that the money raised would help fund transportation for veterans to and from medical appointments, personal care packages, guidebooks for essential services, food pantries and other vet-friendly services.

Instead, the company pocketed 85% of the donations raised while an additional 4% went to companies controlled by Mark Gelvan, a New Jersey-based fund-raiser who is already banned from seeking donations in New York because of fraud claims.

The little that went to charity was squandered by abuse and mismanagement, Schneiderman said.

The head of the foundation, Thomas Burch, was convicted last year of embezzling $150,000 from the organization between 2012 and 2016. He was sentenced to five months behind bars.

Menacola Marketing and the DeGregos could not be reached for comment.

The case was part of what Schneiderman’s office called “Operation Bottomfeeder,” which goes after charity fraud and abuse.