ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991                   TAG: 9103130404
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Short


VA. COMPANIES SUED BY ILLINOIS OVER WAR CHARITY/

Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris has sued two Virginia companies that he says may have defrauded consumers nationwide out of $500,000 through an unregistered war-related charity.

Burris said Voices For Freedom of McLean, Va., and Phone Base Systems Inc. of Vienna, Va., allegedly collected the amount in donations and pledges to pay for a phone-message center between families and troops stationed in the Persian Gulf.

But by the defendants' own estimates, fewer than 25 messages from military personnel got through, Burris said.

Voices For Freedom contracted with Phone Base Systems to provide the message center, which was financed by selling inscribed bracelets over the phone.

Organizers of Voices For Freedom maintained their purpose was legitimate but poorly planned and executed.

The lawsuit says the defendants failed to properly register with the attorney general's charitable trust division and violated Illinois trade laws, Burris said.



 by CNB