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Ticket handling gets in trouble Platinum owner says state's fine is extortion By JULIE SWENSEN The state attorney general's office has fined a Medford fund-raising firm, alleging that the company misled consumers. Platinum International owner Cassandra Christanti denies the allegations. The attorney general's office said Platinum sold tickets to fund-raising events in 1997 and 1998, and then encouraged donors to "donate back" the tickets to people who wouldn't otherwise be able to go. The issue: State law requires that before such "donated back" tickets can be sold, the fund-raiser must have a commitment in writing from those who intend to receive the tickets. The state's allegation is that Platinum didn't get those written commitments, and thousands of the donated tickets weren't handed out -- and in some cases, the tickets sold exceeded the seating capacity of the hall at the event. Jan Margosian, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, said that in one spring 1998 fund-raiser for the Ashland Police Officers' Association, Platinum sold 2,113 "donated back" tickets, which well exceeded the hall capacity. "They could show us absolutely no proof that even one ticket was given to a worthy child or somebody else," Margosian said. The event in question was a basketball game between a local police team and "Canadian Half-Pints," a team of midgets from Canada. Contacted Friday, Christanti described the state's action as "extortion," and said the investigation started when a disgruntled employee said he was going to the attorney general's office to make sure the organization got shut down. "Evidently, they listened to his tales," she said. "Actually, what it amounted to was negligence on our part." Platinum International, which has been in Medford for 14 years, has obtained signatures from donated ticket recipients in the past, Christanti said. But during a time when she was out ill, her secretary and floor manager neglected to get the signatures. "They were inundated with work. It wasn't something they did deliberately, it was just something that passed their mind," Christanti said. Christanti said many people buy tickets and forget to attend, or just do it for a charitable donation. She added that no fund-raising event has yet sold out. Christanti agreed to an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance under which she will pay $30,000 for investigative costs and future consumer protection activities. She also agreed not to sell "donated back" tickets in the future, and restrictions were placed on her commercial fund-raising license. Companies signing such agreements do not admit wrongdoing. "There was no admittance of guilt, because there's nothing to be guilty of," Christanti said. When she called people for whom Platinum International has raised funds and explained what happened, they were upset with the state's action, she said. One customer is the Medford Police Association, which uses the firm to raise money to give back to the community, such as for food baskets for the elderly or toys for children at Christmas. "I was surprised to hear about this. I was totally caught off guard," Medford police Lt. Mike Moran said. Moran said the association has probably done 10 fund-raisers with Platinum, perhaps more, and that his experience with the firm "has been nothing but excellent." "The fact is they're good business people," Moran said. "I think they operate strictly above board." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA