NYC mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa's group bills itself a charity despite losing tax-exempt status

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a day ago

NEW YORK —Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa's crime prevention group, the Guardian Angels, is soliciting donations while portraying itself as a tax-exempt charity — even though it was stripped of that status years ago amid tax issues and legal troubles involving the organization's longtime treasurer, according to a Daily News review of federal and state records.
The Guardian Angels, which Sliwa founded in 1979 and still controls as CEO, hasn't filed a 990 Form with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service since 2019, the IRS's publicly available nonprofit database shows. In that database, the group's legal business name is listed as Alliance of Guardian Angels, Inc.
The 990 Form is the equivalent of a tax return for a charitable organization, and due to the Guardian Angels' failure to file 990s three years in a row, the IRS revoked its tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charity designation in November 2022, per a notice included on the group's profile in the database.
The revocation came a year after Rafael Alvarez, the Guardian Angels' now-former treasurer, landed in trouble with the U.S. Department of Justice, which forced his accounting firm, ATAX, to shutter permanently in 2021 due to a suspicion he was filing fraudulent returns for clients — a case that eventually resulted in Alvarez pleading guilty to criminal charges.
Despite the charity status, the Guardian Angels has continued to describe itself as a 501(c)(3) group on its website, including on a page where it's asking supporters for money.
'The Alliance of Guardian Angels is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization founded in 1979 in New York City,' a banner reads on the page soliciting contributions via a big red 'donate' button that sends supporters to a PayPal page if they click it. 'Our mission is to provide positive role models for today's youth and work toward promoting community safety and betterment for the good of society overall.'
According to legal experts, falsely portraying a group as a 501(c)(3) can result in fines and even criminal charges, especially if the misrepresentation involves the solicitation of donations. Taxpayers who donate to nonprofit charities who've lost their 501(c)(3) status can, in turn, also end up getting in trouble with the IRS if they claim their contributions as tax deductible.
'When a charitable nonprofit is no longer recognized as tax-exempt, it will be required to pay income taxes on revenue, including donations, and donors will no longer be able to deduct contributions to the organization,' according to the National Council of Nonproifts.
IRS' press office didn't immediately return a request for comment this week.
In addition to the IRS delinquencies, the Guardian Angels hasn't submitted tax filings with the New York state attorney general's office as required since 2019, either, an AG spokeswoman confirmed. The spokeswoman wouldn't comment further, but the AG's office typically works with delinquent nonprofits to try to get them into compliance before taking any enforcement action.
Sliwa's campaign referred questions to Mario Kranjac, an attorney for the Guardian Angels, who blamed the filing failures on Alvarez, who served as the group's treasurer for over a decade and was personally friendly with Sliwa.
Kranjac said the Guardian Angels believed all tax returns had been filed properly by Alvarez.
'Curtis Sliwa had no involvement in financial filings,' said Kranjac, an ex-mayor of Englewood, N.J. who mounted an unsuccessful Republican bid for governor of the state this year. 'The Guardian Angels are allowed to continue operating and are taking steps to correct the issue with counsel.'
The tax troubles involving the Guardian Angels, whose members have been known for doing street and subway 'safety patrols,' are emerging as Sliwa is gearing up his GOP bid for mayor ahead of November's election.
The revelations about the tax filing failures — and previously unreported details about Alvarez's role in the Guardian Angels' finances — could cast a shadow over Sliwa as he campaigns heavily on an anti-corruption message. It also raises questions about how, as mayor, Sliwa would manage a city with an annual budget of $116 billion, in addition to his own campaign, which just on Wednesday received $1.9 million in public matching funds.
Alvarez served as the Guardian Angels' treasurer between 2010 and 2024, per his LinkedIn profile.
Before the Guardians abruptly stopped submitting 990s, Alvarez and his accounting firm used to prepare and handle all of the group's federal and state tax filings, The News' review found. In those filings, Alvarez identified himself both as the group's treasurer and accountant.
An attorney for Alvarez — who's currently in prison — didn't say why he stopped filing the group's taxes in 2019. The attorney, Michael Bachrach, did say he wasn't sure whether Alvarez ever filed fraudulent tax forms for the Guardian Angels.
'There were over 80,000 tax returns disclosed in discovery in that case, some fraudulent and other perfectly lawful,' said Bachrach. 'I don't recall whether Guardian Angels were amongst them.'
When Alvarez had his firm shuttered by the feds in June 2021, he was already under criminal investigation by the DOJ over suspicions he had helped clients file tax returns with the IRS claiming fraudulent deductions for fictitious charity donations, medical costs and other expenses in order to lower their tax burdens, according to his indictment and other filings made in his case.
In April 2024, the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office indicted Alvarez on charges alleging he had orchestrated a sprawling tax fraud scheme between 2010 and 2020 — spanning the period when he was handling the Guardian Angels' books — in which he and his firm stole $145 million from the IRS.
His indictment alleged Alvarez was known as 'The Magician' among his clients because of the advanced methods he used to defraud the IRS.
This spring, Alvarez was sentenced to four years in prison, ordered to forfeit more than $11 million and pay, together with any clients identified as having participated in the scheme, $145 million in restitution to the U.S. government.
Alvarez's indictment doesn't identify his clients, but prosecutors wrote in court papers this spring some of them are being made to pay years' worth of back taxes.
The Guardian Angels, which as a 501(c)(3) was exempt from most — but not all — federal and state taxes, isn't referenced in Alvarez's indictment and hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing.
Sliwa and Alvarez go back personally, and he has over the years hyped up Alvarez's business many times on the radio. Speaking on his talk radio show in 2012, Sliwa called Alvarez 'my very cumpà,' Italian slang that translates to close friend, and told listeners in need of tax help: 'You need to talk to a professional, and the best is Rafael Alvarez.'
Sliwa's group also gave Alvarez its coveted 'Red Beret Award' in 2011.
On the campaign trail, Sliwa has vowed to turn the page on the dysfunction and corruption he argues has marred Mayor Adams' time at City Hall, pointing to the incumbent's federal bribery indictment, which was quashed this spring by President Trump's DOJ as part of a controversial arrangement.
Sliwa ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2021, clinching about 28% compared to the 67% received by Adams, the Democratic mayoral nominee in that race.
Sliwa's seen as having a better shot this year, as the city's Democratic vote could be fractured by the fact that, in addition to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, Adams and Andrew Cuomo are running on independent lines on the November ballot. Attorney Jim Walden is on an independent line as well.
Mamdani continues to poll as the favorite to win the November contest, with most surveys predicting Cuomo as the runner-up candidate. Sliwa has in a number of polls placed third, pulling more support than Adams.
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