Obama donated part of Nobel Prize money to allegedly fraudulent ‘Three Cups of Tea’ charity

Even more damning than the charges of literary fabrication against "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortensen may be the accusations of fraud against his charity, the Central Asia Institute: Reporters for CBS’s 60 Minutes programme visited almost 30 of the schools and claimed that roughly half were empty, built by someone else or not ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Even more damning than the charges of literary fabrication against "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortensen may be the accusations of fraud against his charity, the Central Asia Institute:

Even more damning than the charges of literary fabrication against "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortensen may be the accusations of fraud against his charity, the Central Asia Institute:

Reporters for CBS’s 60 Minutes programme visited almost 30 of the schools and claimed that roughly half were empty, built by someone else or not receiving any support. The programme alleged that Mortenson’s charity, Central Asia Institute (CAI), spent more on book promotion and publicity than on building schools. Mortenson took private jets to events where he was paid $30,000 to speak, according to the programme, and former associates accused him of using CAI as his own "private ATM".

One of the funders of CAI who may now be wondering where his money went is President Obama. Last year, the president donated $100,000 out of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize winnings to the Bozeman, Montana-based charity. It was one of the 10 U.S.-based organizations the president chose because of their "extraordinary work in the United States and abroad helping students, veterans and countless others in need."

The institute was founded in 1996 with a $1 million donation from the Swiss physicist and microchip pioneer Jean Hoerni. Hoerni passed away a year later but I’m guessing his estate will also want to have some words with Mortensen.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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