CARTON CHARITY $HADY
Benched WFAN host Craig Carton’s Tourette’s syndrome charity has done little more than hold fund-raising events to keep itself afloat, doling out next to no cash for research or treatment of the disorder — but appears to have helped with connections to exploit his alleged $5.6 million Ponzi scheme.
IRS records show the TicTocStop nonprofit has raised more than $1 million since Carton — who was suspended from his sports-talk radio job after his arrest Wednesday — founded it in 2013 to “fight against Tourette syndrome.” Carton and two of his four kids suffer from the condition.
But nearly all the cash raised has been spent on something other than Tourette’s syndrome, including a series of golf outings, galas and other fund-raising events. Photos posted on the charity’s Web site show Carton palling around with retired pro athletes including Mets reliever John Franco, Yankees catcher Rick Cerone and Knicks guard John Starks at one of the bigbucks fund-raisers.
In IRS filings, TicTocStop lists two unexplained “contributions” totaling $103,390 made in 2013-14. Even if that entire amount went to treatment or research, it would account for less than 10 percent of what the charity has taken in, the filings reveal.
An expert with the Charity Navigator watchdog group said the lack of any “program expenses” in its most recent, 2015 filing raised a “major red flag.”
“We rarely ever see organizations report zero for program expenses,” Katie Rusnock said. “We occasionally see low ratios, but this is definitely far outside the norm.”
This year, TicTocStop’s fourth annual celebrity golf outing was co-chaired by board member Doug Pardon, whom The Post has identified as the “hedge-fund partner” Carton targeted to allegedly scam $4.6 million from Brigade Capital Management.
Carton and two accomplices are accused of creating a sham ticket-reselling operation to defraud the fund and an unidentified “individual investor” to help Carton pay off approximately $3 million in gambling debts. Part of the scheme allegedly involved the use of phony documents detailing an agreement for Carton to purchase $2 million worth of seats to shows by Barbra Streisand and Metallica at face value.
Although Carton didn’t use any of the hedge fund’s $2 million to buy tickets, court papers say he later tried to cover his tracks by using his personal credit card to buy around $345,000 worth of Streisand tickets and $16,000 worth of Metallica tickets.
Neither Carton’s defense lawyer nor TicToc Stop’s chief financial officer, Steve Kent, returned requests for comment.