Yahoo! human! rights! fund! called! a! sham!! $13m! of! $17m! wasted!

The shriveled husk of Yahoo! has once again been dragged into court, this time over allegations the company mishandled millions of dollars earmarked for humanitarian aid. A complaint [PDF] filed in the Washington DC US District Court on Tuesday alleges that the Yahoo! Human Rights Fund Trust, a charity the erstwhile search …

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

The other kind of trust fund hipsters?

[MyffyW]

Dear El Reg, more flawed pictures of Marissa Mayer please. Tickles a small dark part of my soul.

[Whitter]

Bribery by another name

I've no proof but I suspect this is not an uncommon use of corporate charity - and fairly worldwide too. Maybe "bribery" is a bit harsh in other instances, where "tax evasion" may be closer to the mark (and if there is a moral distinction worth making between the two).

[Flakk]

Were either Art Vandelay or The Human Fund associated with this, by any chance?

[Sandtitz]

I hear most of the funds were used in last year's Festivus.

[Daedalus]

Oh Mr. Wu, what did you do?

If you read the complaint it turns out to be a scam orchestrated by the now-deceased "Harry Wu" who played the original plaintiffs for fools, and Yahoo too.

No sign of any ukuleles....

[Howard Hanek]

Marisa's Inalienable Right To Be Happy

It paled into insignificance compared to the General Party Fund.

[Gordon Pryra]

Is this not the entire point to charities though?

Not that I am being cynical, but I have worked for multiple "charities" some of the big ones that you would recognize, and they just seem to be a business like any other.

Likewise, any profit making company pretending to have ANY charitable aims is just looking for advertising or (in this case) a way out of a court case. Any actual funds in a trust will OBVIOUSLY be used up in "admin" costs.

We know foundations like Big Gates etc are also a load of old toss, fantastic tax dodges but very little actually gets to the people claimed