Gabby Petito Foundation A Scam? People Question Non-Profit's Intentions After Co-Founder Part of 2019 Fraud Scheme
Gabby Petito's body has been discovered two months ago, and her family has been doing everything they can to prevent others from becoming victims by launching a non-profit in her honor.
The non-profit organization is called The Gabby Petito Foundation, and her family launched in her memory to help find missing persons and fight domestic violence.
In the website's mission statement, the foundation is slated to "address the needs of organizations that support locating missing persons and to provide aid to organizations that assist victims of domestic violence situations, through education, awareness, and prevention strategies."
Gabby's mother, Nicole Schmidt, and her dad Joe Petito and Gabby's step-mother Tara Petito said they're still grieving after Gabby's death and believe that the process will take a long time.
Nicole told WFLA in Tampa, "Some mornings I wake up, I want to save the world and I know I can't do that but I'll die trying. And that's Gabby's legacy."
"For me, it means preventing this from happening to someone else. That's what we're trying to do here."
However, after learning that one of the co-founders was charged with tax fraud a few years ago, several social media users are doubting the foundation's credibility.
According to a Suffolk County investigation, three tax preparers reportedly took part in a tax scam involving the use of deceased firms to falsely claim tax deductions for their customers, resulting in lower tax bills.
Tara Petito, a tax preparer accused of filing bogus tax returns, was charged in 2019 with Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, an E felony.
In a Reddit post where the article was shared, Biscuits_Baby reacted," Wow, but also not entirely shocking. These people should not have charged of any "foundation. Shady vibes all day."
Another person, Purple_st1cky_punch, agreed, saying, "They certainly wasted no time setting [the foundation] up."
@Kat87511 said she donated to the foundation before finding out that Tara was charged with "very serious" tax fraud charges.
As of writing, there are no court dates or anything, but it is believed that the case is still ongoing.
The Twitter user further questioned, "The foundation is probably not going to get accepted with her on the board and what will they do with all the money of the foundation gets denied?"
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But Twitter user @1904say tweeted that the tax fraud is "false claims."
She went on to say, "No Tax Fraud proceedings. It's an old error/incident from 2019 ,while doing work as a Tax Preparer , now dug up by haters & used in online misinformation smear campaign. Fake News & nasty."
People are giving to the foundation regardless of the truth, and while they are sad for Gabby Petito and her family, they are also proud of them for doing something good in the world.
