CBS 5 EXCLUSIVE

Birther posse chief: I accepted $10,000 from source

Posted: Oct 30, 2014 4:26 PM PDT Updated: Oct 31, 2014 6:44 AM PDT By Morgan Loew CONNECT


PHOENIX (CBS5) -After two years of denying he personally profited from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office investigation into the validity of President Barack Obama's birth certificate, the head of the sheriff's Cold Case Posse admitted to CBS 5 Investigates that he accepted a large monetary gift from one of the sources in the investigation.

Mike Zullo is the man Sheriff Joe Arpaio tapped to head the investigation. Zullo manages the Cold Case Posse and is in charge of the posse's fundraising and financial management.

In response to questions emailed to him last week regarding personal use of the posse's money, Zullo responded on Tuesday:
"My answer to this question is emphatically No! These accusations that you claim you have heard are absolutely unfounded, slanderous and completely fabricated. They are designed to cast me and this organization in a disparaging light. I am appalled at this accusation!"

One day later, after faced with evidence provided by CBS 5 Investigates, Zullo sent another email.

"In 2012 a FedEx envelope arrives unexpectedly at my door, just out of nowhere. When I opened it there is a check for $10,000 made out to me personally from Bill," wrote Zullo. He was referring to Bill Wolf, who was a major researcher in the birther movement.

Wolf had supplied the Cold Case Posse with a dossier of information about alleged problems with the President's birth certificate. The dossier became a major source of information for Zullo's investigation.

In his email to CBS 5 Investigates, Zullo stated that the check was a personal gift from Wolf, and not intended to be used for Cold Case Posse expenses. You can find the entire text of Zullo's emails here and here.

Zullo has come under fire in the past two years for failing to file 990 tax returns for the Cold Case Posse, which is listed as a non-profit organization separate from the sheriff's office.

"I don't have to," was Zullo's response when asked why he hasn't filed returns, which would show how much money the posse took in, paid out, and where the money went. Zullo has claimed an exemption that allows non-profits that are overseen by government agencies to avoid filing their returns.

On Thursday morning, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office sent CBS 5 Investigates an email stating that the law enforcement agency had no oversight of the posse's finances.

"While the posse acts under authority of the Sheriff's Office, financial oversight by the Office is precluded as posses, to include those that are 501(c)(3), are solely responsible for raising their own money and controlling their own finances," said the statement. You can read the rest of it here.

When asked whether it is against policy with the sheriff's office for a posse investigator (the sheriff refers to Zullo as the posse's "Chief Investigator") to accept money from sources in an investigation, the sheriff's spokesperson, Lisa Allen, did not respond.

See related story and interview with former Cold Case Posse member, Brian Reilly.

Read more: http://www.kpho.com/story/27170194/b...#ixzz3HkVFUf1w