New Era Accountant Sentenced to Jail

The accountant who helped John G. Bennett, Jr., defraud hundreds of charities and donors through his Foundation for New Era Philanthropy was sentenced last week to spend 30 months in federal prison.

Andrew Cunningham, who pleaded guilty in October 1996 to aiding a scheme to defraud and to impeding the work of the Internal Revenue Service, was also fined $1,000 and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service. He could have been sentenced to up to 57 months in prison, but his term was shorter because he had cooperated with the government’s investigation of Mr. Bennett, said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Richard Goldberg.

The New Era foundation took in more than $350-million from over 1,000 non-profit groups and donors from 1989 to 1995, promising that the money would be matched by anonymous philanthropists, with the total amount going to the charities. Those anonymous philanthropists did not exist.

Mr. Bennett was sentenced last fall to 12 years in prison.