Scam? Bullied Bus Monitor’s Fundraiser Tries Fundraising For Himself

People are often the most easily scammed when they feel empathy for another person. This is why embarrassing, fake “charity” efforts like Kony 2012 frequently manage to make out quite well before their scam-like nature gets outed.

Sadly enough, Kony 2012 might not be the only fundraising effort to use peoples’ empathy for venal purposes this year. There have been early warning signs that the man behind the fundraiser to get abused bus monitor Karen Klein a vacation (which has currently raked in over $300,000) may be running such a scam. The evidence is too thin to condemn him yet, and indeed, it may all be an innocent misunderstanding, but if this story from the Atlantic is any guide, questions should be asked:

Since we reported on bullied bus monitor Karen Klein’s exposure to the best and worst of humanity yesterday afternoon, people have donated more than $150,000 in her honor–a number we expect to only grow thanks to Klein’s morning show rounds today. But it now looks like her white knight is trying to cash on Klein’s viral fame.

Max Sidorov a.k.a. Reddit user heavyballsareheavy a.k.a the good Ukrainian Samaritan who set up the donation fund for the bullied Klein now has his own donation page with about $1,300 in the bank at the moment. He didn’t start the appeal himself, but he’s certainly embraced his own pledge drive by (with shades of those Invisible Children Kony kids) promoting a diet book he wrote.

Here’s the post that Sidorov originally put up:

Max Sidorov, The Man Behind the Fundraise for the Bullied Bus Driver, Tries to Profit From His Newfound FameNow, to be fair to Sidorov, he did later retract this bit of self-promotion:

Max Sidorov, The Man Behind the Fundraise for the Bullied Bus Driver, Tries to Profit From His Newfound FameThe fundraising page associated with him has also been deleted.

Nevertheless, this little hiccup raises questions – troubling ones, given the titanic amount of money flowing toward helping Karen Klein. For instance, just how is Sidorov going to transfer all this money to her? What assurance do we have that he will? What could Klein do if he didn’t? The list goes on and on and on.

Fortunately, users have already asked those questions. The International Business Times reports:

For the most part, the Max Sidorov fund-raising effort is being applauded by indiegogo users. But one user said they believe giving money to Sidorov is inappropriate.

“I‘m glad you’ve given [Klein] full control of the money, that was the right thing to do, and I hope you do well financially out of this as well through media appearances etc. but I wholeheartedly disagree with you promoting your book on her page,” Indiegogo user Philip wrote.

It’s still too early to tell what Sidorov will do with the funds raised for him. It’s up to him to see how this plays out. Will he use the money to benefit others like Klein or helped fund anti-bullying causes, or will he splurge on himself?

All valid questions. With any luck, Max Sidorov will prove to actually be a good Samaritan and not just another bullying predator.

 

Comments (45)

  • Nadine_Lumley
    Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:43am

    ***Karen Klein the bus monitor allowed this situation to escalate by her inaction to the point where it became dangerous.

    I blame the people who hired her and didn’t follow up to see if she could do the job or not…, obviously she was not cut out for the job, even though apparently she was a bus driver for many years before becoming a bus monitor.

    from article: Karen Klein is paid around $15,000 dollars/year to discharge these duties.

    What did Karen Klein do to maintain discipline in this situation? Did she warn the kids of the consequences of their actions – getting kicked off the bus, or maybe even suspension? No. Did she separate the trouble makers? Nope. Did she inform the bus driver that there was a situation and request his help in stopping it? Uh uh.

    Karen Klein sat there and took it, which is NOT handling the situation in the way that the guidelines of her job specify. What guidelines, you ask? The ones set in place by the New York State Department of Education Transportation Department.

    http://rubberchickensociety.org/2012/06/22/you-got-400k-for-what-rcs-forced-to-call-********-on-bus-monitor-debacle/

    Report Post »  
  • mac6007
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 11:36pm

    LameLiberals
    I agree with you. She was not doing the job she was hired to do. If she couldn’t control the kids she should not have been on the bus as a monitor. Evidently the little varmits had no respect for her. I’m sure this has happened prior to this incident however there are no videos to prove it.
    I am not condoning what the kids did but school bus drivers, and monitors on the bus are not equiped to handle this type of abuse.
    I‘m sorry this happened to her but I don’t think she deserves the money sent to her as a retirement package, but I do think she should retire. I hope all goes well for her in the future.

    Report Post »  
  • LameLiberals
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 6:31pm

    I REFUSE to give a penny to this woman (over $400,000 so far). And Karen Klein should SPLIT THE MONEY with ALL THE CHILDREN ON THAT BUS WHO WERE BULLIED BECAUSE SHE DID NOT DO HER JOB AND WAS BULLIED HERSELF.

    1. She was PAID to be the BUS Monitor

    2. She worked for 20 years with the school district

    3. She is MOST LIKELY a PUBLIC UNION Member.

    4. She was BLEEPED in this video – so she is no innocent. You can bet she said many BLEEPED things before over the years to these kids and they smelled blood in the water this day to get her back.

    While it is disturbing she ALLOWED HERSELF to be bullied by JUNIOR HIGH kids – What about the 20 years of children were BULLIED on a bus where she did NOT DO HER JOB AS A BUS MONITOR?

    Report Post »  
    • tricia
      Posted on June 22, 2012 at 7:16pm

      It seems she doesn’t need your money, green eyed monster. Why don’t you crawl back in that hell hole you apparently crawled out of

      Report Post »  
    • soybomb315
      Posted on June 23, 2012 at 7:03am

      @LameLiberals
      yup. She did not do her job – but somehow everyone thinks she is a “VICTIM”. I’m sure this was an escalating situation over a period of weeks (at least). This is what happens when you give punks/bullies an inch and do not take a stand. If she couldnt keep the bus under control, she is not qualified for the job.

      When they started threatening her, she should have alerted the bus driver and stopped the bus. Call the cops and wait for them to show up. Cops take kids away. Kids punished by law or parents. Problem solved…..Instead she gets half a million dolllars – what a broken country

      Report Post » soybomb315  
  • 123456beatriz
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 12:20pm

    Hopefully she will get her money. She deserved after hear those MONSTERS!

    Report Post »  
    • thezone
      Posted on June 22, 2012 at 2:13pm

      She is, all the money is in the indiegogo’s bank accounts now, Max isn’t seeing a penny of it. After the 30 day donation drive is done indiegogo will deliver the $$ straight to her.

      Report Post »  
    • soybomb315
      Posted on June 23, 2012 at 7:04am

      She “deserves” nothing but apology. Only liberals and socialist say that people ‘deserve’ things

      Report Post » soybomb315  
  • TiocFaidhArLa
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 10:50am

    Who cares? He raisd the money, so why not use some ?

    Report Post »  
  • OhSuzieQ
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 9:19am

    OhSuzieQ
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 12:25pm
    Yea, who was this person?? Smells like a scam to me.

    I’m sorry, but if you think this is an Isolated problem, think again.

    Report Post » OhSuzieQ  
  • battles
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 8:56am

    Maybe we should only let the Red Cross collect such donations. After all, they only tried to keep 50% of the donations people gave to the Twin Towers bereaved families.

    Report Post » battles  
    • SocialistSlayer
      Posted on June 22, 2012 at 9:34am

      The Red Cross is a Scam in itself. It stole most of the 911 donations and look around the DC area where they all drive gas guzzling SUVs ! The Big wigs all draw obscene salaries – they only people they are interested in is themselves! If you want to help someone by pass all the phony charities and give them the help or money directly!

      Report Post » SocialistSlayer  
    • wakeus_com
      Posted on June 23, 2012 at 12:13pm

      Nooooo! The Red Cross is one organization I will not give money to. They are a scam of epic proportions.

      Report Post » wakeus_com  
  • Dolt
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 7:09am

    How jaded have you all become. With ZERO FACTS and ZERO knowledge on how the donation site even works, you people are judging this poor guy who simply did one nice gesture. All he did was start an account in Karen’s name. After that he has NO control over the donation funds or how they are delivered to Karen. That is all up to the indiegogo website. For you people claiming to be Christians you sure are quick to falsely condemn people. Combine that with the irresponsible, arrogant, incorrect and plain dickish tone of this article which shouldn’t have been written in the first place and the huffington post is starting to look pretty damn reasonable these days.

    If this was some kind of scam, he could have used paypal or some other site. Instead, he did this the best way possible. And he got attention for his kind act and when he found out someone else had started one of these account in HIS name, he simply said, that’s nice but if you wanted to help him you could buy his book. What is wrong with that? NOTHING, that’s what. Nothing is wrong with the guy saying thanks for sending ME donations, but instead, you could buy my book and maybe also get something for yourself out of it too. This guy looks like an amazing person in my eyes and those who harshly judge him here out of your own ignorance look like the complete fools that you are – including the author of this piece.

    Report Post »  
    • thezone
      Posted on June 22, 2012 at 2:16pm

      Hear, hear! Good to see some sense on here.

      This article is trying so hard to grasp at straws and create controversy that it fails miserably and just paints Mr. Holt as an incompetent tabloid-style journalist.

      Report Post »  
    • blist_52
      Posted on June 24, 2012 at 5:24pm

      Not saying that the donations are a scam – but they are ridiculous. Completely agree with posters who said she was not doing her job. People should not be rewarded for not doing their job. Kids are easily drawn into acting this way by peer pressure. She was there to recognize that and deal with it – provide some discipline. All she needed to do was call the cops and haul their butts away. Instead she taught them that being mean gets no response. I say fire her. What people do with their money is their business – but she doesn’t deserve it.

      Report Post »  
  • MRMANN
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 5:14am

    Wonder how and when the karma machine will deal with Sidorov. If this news is true (& it sure looks like it is), S. is just another snake in the grass.

    Report Post »  
  • CATPBJ
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 3:08am

    This is typical “The Blaze” style ‘journalism’. This article is nonsense and the author, Mytheos Holt, ought to be sued for defamation of character and libel. First of all, the guy that started the fundraiser for the bus matron did NOT start a fundraiser for himself. The person who started the fundraiser for Karen Klein the verbally tortured schoolbus matron is some guy named Max from the Ukraine and the guy who started the fundraiser for Max is a totally different person. This information is easily obtained. If you are really a conspiracy inclined person and say – “Well, its easy to have two different names on a site like Indiegogo and still be the same person…” Well, that may or may not be true, however, what is 100% true is the fact that you can easily find the IP addresses from each of the two fundraisers and clearly see that they are from two different continents!

    Now, I realize that some people like Sarah Palin may not know the difference between a country and a continent, but I would hope that a journalist would know the difference! And from the fact that these two IPs are thousands of miles apart, one could conclude they are not the same person!

    And as for the Scam?? question, why not contact Karen herself or her daughter to see if Max, the guy who started the fundraiser for her is keeping the money or giving it to her as stated?

    Pitiful, sad excuse of a “story” here by Mytheos Holt!!

    Report Post » CATPBJ  
  • Awaken2
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 12:32am

    On the donation website under the “Updates” tab I found thie message copied below and decided not to donate. Max S must believe that Obama is King and if enough people sign a Petition to Obama Mrs. Klein will not have to pay taxes on the donated funds. Or, a ruse to give Obama campaign a list of possible new donors to his campaign? Be careful folks.

    “Max S posted an announcement 3 hours ago

    There is a petition to Obama to get Karen all the money tax free, please sign it if you can!

    http://www.change.org/petitions/president-barac... “

    Report Post »  
  • biblegeek119
    Posted on June 22, 2012 at 12:10am

    You can win.

    If people give him money = He is wrong
    If he instead of getting free money, suggested people buy his book = He is wrong

    Detail – The guy set up fundraiser to help someone else, guess what? I didn’t help anybody. Who is the better person?

    Report Post »  
  • kberges
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 11:40pm

    MYTHEOS HOLT you’re an *******!

    Report Post »  
  • Conservative-Atheist
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 11:08pm

    The headline of this story is false. I expect more from The Blaze.

    Report Post » Conservative-Atheist  
  • hardiepiper
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 9:17pm

    This is why it doesn’t pay to be a nice guy. Immediately people want to turn you into a villain. Our society is sick. The guy didn’t do anything wrong, he plugged his book.

    Report Post » hardiepiper  
    • mils
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 9:28pm

      get the facts…then talk about this person…you’re acting like msnbc
      if he is doing …what you “think”…then blast him out of the water…until then…

      Report Post »  
  • thezone
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 9:12pm

    This article is a sad piece of “journalism”
    1. Max isn’t collecting anything, the website indiegogo is doing so, he just started the campaign, he is not seeing a penny of this money. ALL of the $$ is going straight into indiegogo’s bank accounts who will then send them to Karen.
    2. The other donation drive started by Case, Max has nothing to do with that. If i started a donation drive in your name, would you automatically become a scammer? That donation page was taken down anyway by indiegogo admins.
    3. This man has helped an abused, elderly lady to an early retirement, and you have the gall to call him a scammer and paint him in a bad light? If he gets even a tiny weeny bit of physical benefit from this story, well more power to him. I think he deserves it for helping another human being.
    And you should be ashamed for writing such drivel.

    Report Post »  
    • Conservative-Atheist
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 11:38pm

      The fundraiser page for him is still up. It’s up to 3200 bucks. I think it’s great that people decide to donate a bit to him. He did a great thing in my opinion. Her page is up to 420 thousand dollars!

      Report Post » Conservative-Atheist  
  • jfranko
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 9:00pm

    Why are you judging a person before this is even finished? Just because the guy promotes his book it doesn’t give you the right to suggest he might be a scam artist. You are in the wrong in this situation, putting out any kind of article for the views no matter how speculative and defamatory it is.

    Report Post »  
  • DesdemonasCrew
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 8:52pm

    Let’s see how this plays out. Too early to judge.

    Report Post » DesdemonasCrew  
    • GoodStuff
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 9:05pm

      I’m a little skeptical of crowdfunding websites. They’re still in their infancy, and all the kinks haven’t been worked out yet. It leaves open the possibility for scams.

      Report Post »  
  • TJexcite
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 8:43pm

    Just like Haiti earthquake. 10 million sent in and then a cholera out break as the money did not go to the people so they have dirty water. It went to so middle mans pocket and then death in the streets

    One good thing is that the FNC and the real world will keep tabs if the money does not go to her. A press conference with a big check for $400,000 and then leave it at that. Any money that comes in after that he can keep as the world should know that this amount when to her and the account are closed.

    Report Post » TJexcite  
  • booger71
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 8:34pm

    So many times these fundraising efforts are scams, that‘s why I don’t give to them.

    Report Post » booger71  
  • Mr.Fitnah
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 7:58pm

    He didnt start the drive for himself, I hope it works out for him.

    Report Post » Mr.Fitnah  
    • austinkbutler
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 8:32pm

      I agree. This guy seems sincere and had the opportunity to rake in a lot more than $1,300 if he really was scamming anyone. This is the kind of speculation that creates the damaging environment of political theatre. If this guy actually was ripping people off, then he’ll get what he deserves eventually, but I hope it works out for him and Karen Klein.

      Report Post » austinkbutler  
  • soybomb315
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 7:52pm

    If this is true, what a shame. I tried to warn you folks this morming that it was a silly thing to think that you could give her happiness.

    Moral of the story….Charity begins and ends with the individual. You cannot drop off a box of money or clothes and expect the problems to be solved. You must minister to people on an individual level. That is the spirit of America

    Report Post » soybomb315  
  • Want our country back
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 7:48pm

    Americans, you are the BEST!!!!!

    Let the story play out…. not making any judgements yet.

    Report Post » Want our country back  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 7:45pm

    This will p iss off a lot of people, And clearly if this guy does not turn over every red cent, then he needs to be arrested!

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
    • BuddyBaker
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 8:45pm

      Arrested and flagged.

      Report Post »  
    • thezone
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 9:15pm

      Jesus christ, please read up on how this even works, Max doesn’t see a red cent of any of these donations. Indiegogo is a completely separate website from him, THEY collect donations, and THEY give them to Karen. Max just started this donation drive, that’s it. There is no conceivable way he can scam anyone as he does not see a penny of these donations.

      Report Post »  
  • karenm
    Posted on June 21, 2012 at 7:41pm

    What is wrong with people?

    Report Post » karenm  
    • Look4DBigPicture
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 7:47pm

      Sadly, they have no soul.

      Report Post »  
    • Meyvn
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 8:05pm

      This is what’s wrong:

      2Ti 3:1-5: This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

      We each need to repent and cease in our own iniquity. We best wise up. Judgement is on it’s way.

      Report Post » Meyvn  
    • soybomb315
      Posted on June 21, 2012 at 8:19pm

      Suckers are born every minute. Eventually, it adds up to a lot of foolish people. Naturally, there are people more than willing to take advantage

      Report Post » soybomb315  
    • OhSuzieQ
      Posted on June 22, 2012 at 8:39am

      EASY money.

      Report Post » OhSuzieQ  

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