Charities Asked to Return Money

The trustee for a collapsed financial empire is asking a bankruptcy court to force several dozen charities to return thousands of dollars in donations.

The donations were made during the 1990s by the Bennett Funding Group, a family firm in Syracuse, N.Y.

Among the amounts being sought by bankruptcy trustee Richard C. Breeden are $7,500 from the Hiawatha Council of the Boy Scouts in central New York State; $5,950 from the Upstate New York Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society; $4,550 from the Crouse Hospital Foundation in Syracuse; and $2,000 that a Bennett company gave to an interreligious organization.

Federal authorities charge that severalBennett companies and individuals, including Patrick Bennett, son of the firm’s founder, were involved in a pyramid scheme that cheated thousands of investors out of more than $700-million.

William J. Moran, executive director of the Boy Scouts council, said the Bennett group pledged $10,000 in the early 1990s and still owed $2,500 when the demand for repayment came.

Mr. Breeden, who could not be reached for comment, now runs the nine Bennett companies that are reorganizing their debts under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. He is seeking to recover money and property from investors, banks, charities, and others to pay back creditors. Court papers state that because the charitable donations were made with illegally acquired money, they must be returned.

Mr. Moran said he hoped he would not have to give up the money.