“The Royal Order of Jesters (“ROJ”) is a worldwide fraternal organization whose membership is limited to individuals invited to join by other members. The list included national Jester director Samuel “Scutter” Newton. The other story I broke four years ago reported that a group of 19 Jesters were on a witness list and were expected to testify about their first hand knowledge of sex with minor girls while on a fishing trip to Brazil. ![]() The same plea agreement discloses that the Jesters are under federal investigation for sex trafficking, prostitution and child sex tourism. The Judge testified in his plea agreement that he worked with national officials to make sure prostitutes got to a national Jester meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario. A retired Erie County Sheriff pleaded guilty last April to driving a limo of prostitutes from the Buffalo New York airport to a national Jester convention in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada in April, 2005 and not reporting the felony to authorities. These included his law clerk and a retired Lockport police captain. When the Jester news broke four years ago, we learned from the Buffalo News that a New York state Supreme Court judge resigned after the FBI caught him and two other Jesters in a human trafficking sting. According to, “Tax-exempt means that a nonprofit (1) does not pay taxes to the federal government and (2) that its donors can take a tax deduction for their donations to the organization.”Īlex Rogers, Jesters’ executive director. Additionally, the Jesters were afforded other nonprofit benefits including reduced postal rates, possible exemption from state income, sales, and employment taxes, tax-deductible contributions and exemption from Federal income tax. ![]() These documents were then filed with the IRS, where Lois Lerner, the former Director of Exempt Organization Rulings and Agreements, decided the Royal Order of Jesters deserved 501(c)(3) status as a charity and, on July 24, 2004, approved their application that classified their new headquarters as a “museum.” The Jesters then filed as a foreign corporation business entity with the Secretary of State of Indiana to qualify their new Indianapolis headquarters for property tax exemption. This seemingly boring property tax story began when attorney Ron Pruitt filed nonprofit incorporation documents with Texas’ Secretary of State on. Royal Order of Jesters office building and “museum.” Photo credit: Brandt Construction ( Sandy Frost) However, Lerner did grant tax exempt status to the Royal Order of Jesters, a prostitution ring and classified their headquarters as a museum.
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