Also, I have new revelations here about Tom Brady’s foundation, as reported months ago by the Boston Globe so we’re a little late on that too.
I was just at the supermarket paying for Buffalo Chicken tenders for dinner when I saw the New York Post and learned that once again the Patriots won, yesterday, thanks to a bad call by the refs. I hadn’t known that when I wrote yesterday’s NFL Round Up, or I wouldn’t have written, “Nothing really noteworthy happened in the NFL yesterday…[S]adly, Tom Brady did not suffer a crippling career ending injury.”
But I read the Post and discovered that the “BS” call that robbed the Jets of victory was not even the worst call of the day. So I guess in a sense this is still not noteworthy since the NFL and the refs have been cheating for Brady and the Patriots, when they aren’t cheating themselves, since before the Tuck Rule bullshit, without which Brady would very likely never have won a single Super Bowl.
People, I always say that sports = politics, which is why I write about it so often, and I also always say that one should never underestimate the Evil that is Tom Brady. I recently came across a very interesting story in the Boston Globe from April of this year. It’s about Tom Brady’s scandalous “foundation” — named after him, of course, the egomaniac, like his friend — and lover? — Donald Trump. (Actually it appears the foundation is called “Change the World.” The point stands.)
Here’s the lede to the Globe story:
The legend of Tom Brady has grown thanks to charming images of his celebrated appearances for Best Buddies International, a nonprofit dedicated to helping intellectually and developmentally disabled people.
Smiling children, adoring spectators, and a beaming Brady embracing those with disabilities: No other undertaking in his 17 years in Boston has more vividly portrayed the New England Patriots star as a fabulously wealthy sports figure committed to charity.
Yet Brady’s relationship with Best Buddies has changed in recent years. The organization has become a major source of funding for Brady’s own charitable goals.
Since 2011, while Brady has served as the face of its signature Massachusetts fund-raiser and helped it raise nearly $20 million, Best Buddies has paid $2.75 million to Brady’s own charitable trust and has pledged to grant the organization an additional $500,000 in 2017 — a total of $3.25 million.
The payments, made at Brady’s request, support his Boston-based Change the World Foundation Trust, whose giving has focused almost entirely on causes tied to Brady’s personal interests, including his high school alma mater, his children’s private schools, and charities operated by his football friends. Aiding those with disabilities, the focus of Best Buddies, has been a lower priority.
Independent charity monitors said there appears to be nothing illegal about the arrangement — charities can and do donate to other charities. But they questioned why someone of Brady’s wealth has taken large sums for his foundation from another charity that has its own priorities and needs. The donations from Best Buddies have been by far the Brady organization’s largest source of funds.
It’s pretty sickening — and among the other revelations, in the precise words of the Globe:
—Brady, the sole trustee of his private charity, initially funded the nonprofit with a donation of $490,000 in 2005. Since then he has not made a significant financial contribution, according to tax reports through 2015, the most recently available.
—Best Buddies has almost entirely funded Brady’s foundation. Through 2015, nearly 98 percent of Change the World’s total contributions of $2.3 million since Brady’s initial donation were $2.25 million in grants from Best Buddies. Including Brady’s donation, the percentage is about 80%.
—Where did the money go? From 2011 through to 2015, Change the World gave grants of $55,000 to Best Buddies, after donating a total of $80,000 over the previous three years.
—Otherwise, from 2011 through 2015, Change the World distributed nearly $1 million to more than 30 nonprofits. The largest beneficiary was Brady’s alma mater, Junipero Serra High School, in San Mateo, Calif., at $250,000.
—The next largest grants, $100,000 each, went to Santa Monica Catholic Community, where Brady and Gisele Bundchen were married in 2009, and the TB12 Foundation, a charity Brady formed in 2015 to support clients of his Foxborough-based TB12 fitness and nutrition company.
—Ohio State University received a $50,000 donation in honor of Ed Razek, a former Victoria’s Secret executive who is said to have helped launch Brady’s romance with Bundchen by setting them up in 2006.
Oh, and by the way, I’ve uncovered, Tom Brady protein bars are $40 for a box of 12. By comparison you can buy a 12-pack of Cliff Builder bars for 17.99 from Amazon — but don’t, because it will enrich Jeff Bezos.
Anyway, we here at WashingtonBabylon.com are seriously digging into the Brady Foundation scam and will post our findings as soon as we have them. We are looking for tips please, at Patreon or at ken@washingtonbabylon.com.
