The Royal Order of Jesters hoodwinked the IRS to classify their charity and fraternity as nonprofit.
Their charity operates a "museum."
Their fraternity exists to "spread the gospel of mirth and merriment."
This is code for partying with prostitutes.
This all started on February 15, 2008 when I published "Jesters Exposed," The is the first ever article to allege prostitution but really focuses on how the Marion county assessor decided their new HQ didn't qualify as a museum, thereby denying their application for a property tax exemption.
After the Jesters lost their charitable argument, they convinced the Indiana Property Tax Board of Appeals to grant the property tax exemption based on fraternal affiliation with Masonry.
The Marion County Assessor denied the Jesters' 2008 exemption application and today, they're still using the same arguments to avoid paying over $50,000 in property taxes, but that's another story.
On March 9, 2008 three weeks after "Jesters Exposed," I published "Jesters to Testify about Illegal Drugs, Child Prostitution?" This was about 19 Jesters named on a witness list who were expected to testify about their first hand knowledge of sex with minor prostitutes while on a fishing trip to Brazil. The Brazilian Federal Police indicted the former fishing tour operator who organized their trip, charging him with rape, operating a network of prostitution and corruption of minors. Five Brazilian Indian girls told the police that a man named "Richard" lured them off their reservation to clean and cook on his fishing boat but upon arrival, were made to drink whiskey and have sex with North American fishermen. Fishing guides testified that the Jesters asked to be called "Masons" and for girls over 13.
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Three days later, on March 9, 2008, the Buffalo News reported that three Jesters had been caught in a human trafficking sting. A former NY State Supreme Court Judge, his law clerk and a retired Lockport police captain got caught by the FBI for driving an illegal alien prostitute from Buffalo to a Jester party in Ashland Kentucky. A fourth Jester was sentenced yesterday for driving a limo of prostitutes from Buffalo to a national Jester party in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Interested in joining?
You must first be a Master Mason, then you can join subordinate groups like the Scottish Rite, the Knights Templar and the Shriners.
They are best known for their red fezzes and operating their 22 hospitals that previously provided free medical care for burned and crippled children. There are serious problems with a cultured skin substitute developed at a Shriner hospital after doctors used burned children in a study so bad that the FDA shut it down, but that's another story.
This all started five years ago after a Shriner asked me to investigate his own. He'd been working with a former IRS agent and they were looking for a journalist to examine "irregular tax returns." After I published five articles, the Shriners sued them for defamation and named me as a secondary party of interest and through discovery, asked for all emails between a journalist and their protected sources to find out if I was being paid or if they were writing the articles for me.
After that public insult, I wondered what it was that they were so desperate to hide. I then picked up where the Orlando Sentinel left off after investigating the Shriners 20 years ago and here we are.
"Let's Make a Deal! Five Areas of Shriners Corruption" can be read here.
One of the most shocking things I've discovered about the Shriners is the ruthless retaliation with which leaders attack those who ask questions like "Where does all the money go" and "Why are your taxes so messed up?" An internal Shriner investigation was held to determine if Shriner leaders used employee performance reviews and unauthorized firings to retaliate against those who opposed their lobbying for a certain fundraiser who raised $47 million for the Shriners but sent only $2.5 million to the hospitals, but that's another story.
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