The former director of national events for AARP has been charged with defrauding the group of tens of thousands of dollars to help pay for an affair with his boyfriend, according to court filings.
Bruce A. Sanders was charged with a single count of fraud and faces up to 10 years if convicted. Sanders was charged via
criminal information, meaning that a plea agreement with prosecutors is likely in the works because the document can only be filed with the defendant’s consent. He could not be reached Sunday.
In the charging documents filed in D.C. federal court last week, prosecutors said Sanders used a “sham” Nevada corporation to funnel event-planning contracts to himself.
The company was created in November 2006, one month after Sanders was promoted to the job of top events coordinator for the nonprofit organization, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons.
The president, and only employee, of the Nevada company was listed as a young man with whom Sanders was having a romantic relationship, documents said.
Prosecutors said the man, who was not identified, played a nominal role with the company. He “was in his early twenties and had no appreciable experience in the field of event productions,” authorities said in court filings.
“[The company] was a ‘sham’ corporation used by Sanders to obtain securities and money from AARP by fraud, without disclosing that he was the actual recipient. [The company] had no purpose other than to contract with AARP,” prosecutors said.
Authorities did not identify the Nevada corporation, but said its corporate charter status was in default less than two months after its creation.
Within a month of taking his new job at AARP, Sanders began using his authority to approve the award of noncompetitive contracts to the Nevada corporation. He approved two contracts, worth $65,000 each, to provide consulting and production services for each of three events.
In February 2007, Sanders signed an $185,000 agreement with the company to provide services as part of AARP’s 2008 50th anniversary celebration.
Sanders opened a checking account in the company’s name at a Bank of America in Washington, D.C., listing himself as the
secretary-treasurer, documents said.
By August 2007, 10 AARP checks worth $135,000 had been deposited into the account, and Sanders wrote company checks worth tens of thousands of dollars to himself and his boyfriend, prosecutors said.
Sanders quit the organization after the scheme was discovered, prosecutors said.
