Minnesota recycling nonprofit ordered to shut down after president found to have misused funds

(St. Paul, MN) -- The Minnesota Attorney General's Office is accusing a recycling nonprofit of fraud and permanently banning the owner from operating a charity in the state after an investigation.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says Mitchell Helling, the owner of The Kitchen Kingz Cooperation, a Minnesota nonprofit corporation, is ordered to pay back $20,000 in misused funds following an Assurance of Discontinuance filed in Ramsey County District Court. Ellison says $19,501.63 of Kitchen Kingz's funds were used toward's Helling's personal benefit. In addition, Helling is banned from operating a charity, having access to charitable assets, and soliciting charitable contributions within Minnesota. 

The funds were claimed to be used to help charities like Secondhand Hounds and Prevent Child Abuse America. 

“Minnesotans are generous people who want to help others. As Minnesota’s chief regulator of charitable organizations, it’s my job to ensure nonprofits that raise money for charitable purposes put them to proper use. Mitchell Helling abused Minnesotans’ trust and took advantage of their desire to help others when he used their charitable contributions for his own personal benefit,” said Attorney General Ellison. “This settlement ensures the money he misused on himself will in fact be used to help others, and that he can never do anything like this again.” 

Kitchen Kingz was also ordered to liquidate its assets, distribute the funds to a charity with a similar mission, and dissolve.