Don Henley’s Nonprofit Returns Donation

DALLAS (CN) - An environmental nonprofit started by Don Henley, of the Eagles, agreed to return half of a $100,000 donation made by convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

Henley's Caddo Lake Institute received the donation before the $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2009.

Rothstein, a disbarred attorney, was accused of using Ponzi money for political contributions, philanthropy and an extravagant lifestyle, and to fund salaries at the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm. He was managing partner and CEO of the firm and was convicted in 2010. He is serving a 50-year federal prison sentence.

Rick Lowerre, president of the institute, told the Dallas Business Journal that "the Institute wants to help settle this and help make the victims whole. We understand the law and the problem and we want to resolve it. I certainly knew there had been this donation. We just thought he was an attorney and we sent him a nice thank you letter."

The bankruptcy trustee overseeing the law firm filed the settlement agreement in Fort Lauderdale Bankruptcy Court, along with six other settlement proposals, for a judge's approval.

The other settlements reported by the Business Journal included the March of Dimes Foundation, $50,000 claim settled for $20,000; United Healthcare Insurance Co., $292,067 settled for $40,000; CorpDirect Agents Inc., $92,686 settled for $25,000; Blue Capital US East Coast Properties LP, $22,230 settled for $8,000; Buchanan Ingersol & Rooney, $36,674 settled for $14,225; Stanley Joseph Coniglio, $50,878 settled for $42,000.

Henley, of Dallas, founded the institute as a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with to protect Caddo Lake in Texas, its wetlands and surrounding plant and wildlife habitat.

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