Daily News Roundup: Finance Titan’s Charity Sues to Recoup $25 Million Fraud Loss

Moore Charitable Foundation Lawsuit Targets Bank for Fraud Loss: The conservation-focused fund headed by Wall Street billionaire Louis Bacon wants investment bank PJT Partners to cover its losses in a scam perpetrated by Andrew Caspersen, who led a PJT private-equity unit, Forbes reports. Mr. Caspersen pleaded guilty last year to orchestrating a Ponzi-like scheme in which Moore invested nearly $25 million.

Virtual Reality Opens New Frontier in Charity Communications: Inheriting a long tradition of using culture for advocacy, Oscar-winning filmmakers like Kathryn Bigelow and Alejandro Iñárritu are crafting “immersive experiences” to promote and raise money for causes such as supporting migrants and battling elephant poaching, The Economist writes. Read a Chronicle feature on nonprofits using virtual reality to connect donors with their missions.

Turkish Police Detain Head of Country’s Amnesty International Chapter: Idil Eser, the nonprofit’s director, was among 10 Turkish, German, and Swedish human-rights workers taken into custody during a training conference outside Istanbul, reports The Wall Street Journal (subscription). Turkish authorities have broad detention powers under the state of emergency instituted following a failed coup attempt last year.

Billionaire Doctor’s Company Takes Over Calif. Nonprofit Hospital Chain: Medical entrepreneur and philanthropist Patrick Soon-Shiong’s NantWorks has acquired a controlling stake in Integrity Healthcare, which manages the former Daughters of Charity hospital network, the Los Angeles Times reports. The six medical centers, largely serving low-income communities in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas, remain nonprofit under the terms of the 2015 Integrity deal.

Obama Foundation Calls for Dialogue on “Digital Citizenship”: Signaling an early area of interest for the former president’s charity, the foundation’s chief digital officer posted a call on self-publishing platform Medium for ideas on improving “digital health” and fostering online engagement among people and organizations with differing backgrounds and perspectives, writes TechCrunch. Read a Chronicle article on how philanthropy may figure into President Obama’s post-White House life.