Virginia started an investigation Thursday into an upper-crust polo event organized by White House gate crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi, a probe focused on whether the enterprise violated charitable fundraising laws.
The couple, before they became tabloid fodder by slipping uninvited into a White House state dinner last week, had already come under scrutiny from state regulators over their philanthropic efforts in Northern Virginia.
The security breach has brought renewed attention to America’s Polo Cup, a annual sporting event run by the Salahis, and its associated charity, Journey for the Cure. In a short statement on Thursday, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said it would investigate the event’s fundraising practices, but declined to provide other details.
In May, the agency warned that donations to Journey for the Cure “may be used for non-charitable purposes,” because the entity wasn’t registered with the state. The charity ostensibly exists to raise money to fight multiple sclerosis and cancer.
When The Examiner reported on the state’s warning, an attorney for the Salahis demanded the paper cease publishing information about his clients, and — after they finally registered with the state months afterward — demanded the story be corrected or retracted. The Examiner stood by its reporting.
The Virginia agency doesn’t have prosecutorial power, but can turn its investigation over to the state’s attorney general or police “if we find what we suspect is a criminal act, or a fraudulent act,” said spokeswoman Elaine Lidholm.
State Corporation Commission records show Tareq Salahi, who registered as director of America’s Polo Cup, had lapsed in paying an annual registration fee to Virginia and still owes the state $242.
The state investigation is the latest in a string of bizarre revelations about the Salahis’ endeavors to emerge since the White House incident.
Vendors for the polo event have claimed they haven’t been paid, according to news reports, and multiple sponsors for America’s Polo Cup have disavowed any association with it.
A contact listed on the America’s Polo Cup Web site did not answer the phone. An attorney for the Salahis could not be reached for comment.
