In the Media

"Negotiations between associations, hotel operators and convention centers and their attorneys are rising to front and center in many situations now regarding annual conferences and meetings as a result of COVID-19.

Jeff Tenenbaum, managing partner of the Tenenbaum Law Group, has been at the forefront of the issue while the stakes continue to rise for both sides. He spoke in late March about how all of this is playing out."

“Another factor many professional societies face is the specter of large cancellation fees from the hotels and convention centers they'd booked for their meetings. The bill could come within 24 hours after cancellation and be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars or even seven figures, Jeffrey S. Tenenbaum, managing partner of Tenenbaum Law Group in Washington, DC, told Medscape Medical News in an email.”

And the relationship between FPL and the not-for-profit groups it supports could put them in the crosshairs of the IRS, an attorney who specializes in non-profits told The Post.

“This is definitely problematic from a federal tax law perspective,” attorney Jeffrey Tenenbaum said.

“When these not-for-profit groups take actions that benefit private companies such as FPL, rather than the public or a disadvantaged group, the IRS could review their nonprofit status, which allows them to operate without paying federal income taxes,” Tenenbaum said.

Jeffrey Tenenbaum, head of the nonprofit practice at the DC-based law firm Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC, appeared on NPR Affiliate WOSU Public Media to discuss the steps nonprofits can take to prevent the type of misappropriation alleged in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Tenenbaum says he does not know the details of the Wexner-Epstein arrangement and cannot comment on it directly, but that there are measures nonprofits can take to avoid misappropriation.

“Here in this particular case involving Wexner and Epstein, it certainly seems like none of these steps were taken," Tenenbaum says. "Things like requiring double signatures, double authorization, back up documentation before funds can be paid or transferred, segregation of duties amongst employees, doing inventories of your fixed assets."

He also says Wexner could have set up electronic alerts so he knew every time a payment or transfer was made.

"Making sure that everyone in the finance and accounting department is required to take a certain length of vacation each year, at least two weeks, to see if that person is involved in a fraud,” Tenenbaum adds. “Because if that person's gone and someone else is assuming his or her duties, it gives you a chance to spot what's going on."

NPR Affiliate WOSU Public Media