THE LATEST ON ISAR

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1996:

ANIMAL PEOPLE reported in the
May Court calendar that the Internal Revenue
Service “is said to be investigating information
from former International Society for Animal
Rights staff and volunteers” that Henry Mark
Holzer, longtime confidante and attorney of ousted
ISAR president Helen Jones, “received substantial
sums from ISAR on a regular basis via his
Brooklyn-based Institute for Animal Rights Law,
which were not reported on the ISAR filings of
IRS Form 990––although ISAR newsletters published
since 1991 make frequent reference to supporting
IARL.”
While Holzer didn’t return messages of
inquiry before we went to press, he did call a
week later, and then faxed the record of ISAR
contributions to IARL: $400 in 1991, $20,000 in
1992, $35,000 in 1993, $5,000 in 1994, and
$5,000 in 1995, total of $65,400 over the five
years in question.

ANIMAL PEOPLE also reported that,
“A request to the New York State Bureau of
Charities Registration for the IARL filings of IRS
Form 990 brought word that IARL had only
applied for charitable status just this year.”
Holzer faxed proof of having received
charitable status on June 29, 1991.
The New York Bureau of Charities
Registration apparently goofed because someone
there searched for the IARL papers by zip code
and street address, unaware that the IARL address
of incorporation, at the Brooklyn College of Law,
is shared by many other charities.
Holzer in January reluctantly led the
ISAR board action that removed Jones from
office, 37 years after she founded the organization
and more than 30 years after he began representing
her, mostly pro bono. ISAR is now suing Jones
for alleged conversion of more than $1 million of
assets to her personal use, and for other alleged
misconduct including animal collecting and alcoholism
interfering with duties. The allegations
came to light through an ANIMAL PEOPLE
expose published in October 1995.
“Everything I’m doing in connection
with this is pro bono, too,” Holzer told ANIMAL
PEOPLE. “I can’t begin to tell you what this has
done to my life, but I am determined that we are
going to set things straight and set ISAR back on
course as an organization.”
Longtime ISAR staffer Susan Altieri
replaced Jones as president.
Former ISAR executive director Nancy
Payton recently flew to Santa Fe, where Holzer
lives, for a week of depositions in connection with
the upcoming court case. That sparked rumors
that she may be returning to run the organization.
“I still believe in the organization and
have a strong personal interest in seeing it recover,”
Payton told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “But I’m
not going to be directly involved as anything but a
major witness in the court case. Whether there’s
even going to be an ISAR all depends on the outcome
of the court case.”