WHEN IS IT OK TO LIE TO MEMBERS AND DONORS?

In an email newsletter dated 9 September 2008, Meryl Dorey stated:

“THANK YOU doesn't even come close!

“Thank you all for your amazing response to the plight of the families who are
fighting for the right to make an informed decision about the healthcare of their
children. We are very happy to be able to report that thanks to your help, one of
these cases has been settled with a positive outcome and we now have sufficient
funds to cover the legal expenses of the other family for the present. Indeed, we are
in the wonderful position of having a small surplus in our Fighting Fund account.” 1

1
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs082/1101800214009/archive/1102254753908.html
Yes, that’s right: Meryl Dorey told her members that the money that had been raised to
help a family on the run had been spent on the family, and that there was small amount left
over.

Not long before that Meryl Dorey had appealed for donations to help this family to go on
the run. A hospital’s medical staff was concerned that the mother of a new-born baby had hepatitis,
and wanted to administer the appropriate vaccination to the baby as soon as possible. The family
immediately did a runner and went into hiding, avoiding the medical staff, the Dept of Community Services,
and the Police who were trying to find the family to ensure that they complied with a Supreme Court Order
which had been issued.

Meryl Dorey began an appeal for donations to assist the family. (The legality of aiding people to defy a
Supreme Court order is another issue worth examining, but that is for another day.) The appeal began with
an AVN newsletter dated 22 August 2008 and now available online. 2

2
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs082/1101800214009/archive/1102213859969.html
 The family’s story is told by the Sydney Morning Herald‘s Kate Benson in an article dated 23 August 2008. 3

AVN members’ heartstrings were pulled with Dorey’s sob-story of how some cruel doctors
wanted to vaccinate a new-born baby against hepatitis and how the family had gone on the
run to avoid all those nasty doctors nurses, DoCS caseworkers and the Police trying to
enforce a Supreme Court order. Of course the AVN needed members’ donations to help
them, etc, etc.

Here’s the rub: None of that money raised to help that family was spent on them. But don’t
just take my word for it; see the audit conducted by the NSW Office of Liquor gaming and
Racing which says:

“During the course of the inquiry evidence of possible breaches of the Charitable
Trusts Act 1993 was detected in relation to the following specific purpose appeals conducted by
AVN:

“1. Fighting Fund – to support a homeless family, allegedly seeking to avoid a court order to
immunise a child with legal and living expenses. The appeal ran for a short time in
2008 and raised $11,810. None of the funds were spent on this purpose.” 4

But don’t take just my word and the word of the government investigators for it. See what
Meryl Dorey herself said in the AVN’s Annual Financial Statement for2008. 5 The statement
shows that all donations received went on operating the AVN and that nothing was spent on
helping this or any other family. 6 So:

1.. When Meryl Dorey said to her members and donors “thanks to your help, one of these
cases has been settled....” she lied.

2.. When Meryl Dorey said to her members and donors “we now have sufficient funds to
cover the legal expenses of the other family....” she was saying that it would be spent on
them. It was not, so she lied.

3.. When Meryl Dorey said “we are in the wonderful position of having a small surplus in our
Fighting Fund account,” the whole $11,810 was left over. There was nothing “small” about this
“surplus” so she lied.

Meryl Dorey lies to and defrauds her members, and they just keep coming back for more.

3
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/08/22/1219262525169.html
4
http://www.scribd.com/doc/50933157/OLGRresponse18102010complete
5
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49074229/AVN-Financial-Statements-2008-2007-2006
6
This fraud was first exposed by Paul Gallagher in his article “How Meryl Dorey stole $11,000 from AVN members
and/or donors” http://tinyurl.com/6vkfr52