Not for profit bandits. Be careful to whom you donate.

9/11 skating charity milked parents for money, none of which went to victims

By CANDICE M. GIOVE

For years the 9/11 charity "Stars, Stripes and Skates" drew the likes of Nancy Kerrigan, Sasha Cohen and Sarah Hughes, Hollywood's Steve Buscemi, and a legion of young skaters waving American flags to its televised shows.

The annual extravaganzas drew hundreds of thousands of fans to venues like Madison Square Garden, and millions of TV viewers. The money raised, the promoters pledged, would go to past and future terror victims.

But the ice capade was an ice-charade.

The amount of money generated remains murky. While the group's spotty tax filings claim it raised only $746,236 in revenue over eight years, a Post analysis of ticket prices and venue sizes shows that as much as $2.1 million might have rolled in through ticket sales alone.

What is known is that not a cent was paid to victims -- and the organizer even milked the parents of 800 young performers for thousands of dollars each in the name of the tragedy, The Post has learned.

"They hit these parents up for more money than you could believe," one father fumed.

Founder Tara Modlin, parents said, pressured them to fork over "audition donations" ranging from $50 to $75, and selling tickets priced between $10 and $1,000.

"I know a mom who bought a banner for 700 bucks with her daughter's name on it," he said.

In 2005, his 18-year-old daughter learned about the group's multi-city tryouts for a show that was to be televised on NBC. The family signed her up for the $50 audition in Danbury, where she performed a 1½-minute routine. She was among 100 kids selected for a role in the show.

Parents eager to please their starry-eyed children were pressured to raise $1,000 in tickets and booster-ad sales. As a reward, the best earners' children would be allowed to mingle with the stars.

Parents believed that money raised would help those affected by 9/11.

"They made a big deal about it -- that it was going to the victims," said Laura Nelson, whose daughter skated at the inaugural event in 2002 at Madison Square Garden.

Modlin, however, confessed she blew all the cash on producing the events -- and spent none on the cause.

The IRS yanked its tax-exempt status last month after it failed to file annual reports for three consecutive years. Modlin blamed a volunteer accountant for the "ginormous" error of failing to submit the "990" tax forms. She said the group caught up with its filings in 2010.

"When I realized what had gone on, I filed them immediately," Modlin said.

Modlin, herself a professional skater before becoming an agent, founded the group -- then known as 9/11 Families Giving Back -- in 2002. The Great Neck native enlisted the help of Long Island family friend Lee Ielpi, who lost his firefighter son Jonathan on 9/11.

But within a few years, Ielpi -- uncertain of the charity's direction -- wanted out. Modlin, however, continued to list his name on tax documents as president.

"I have to get hold of Tara and find out why my name would still be connected to something that I explicitly told her that I do not want to be involved in," a furious Ielpi told The Post.

The group's tax filings document hundreds of thousands in dubious expenses, including $50,000 in travel costs accumulated over just four years to get the stars to the show. The glittering international roster included Weir, Kerrigan, Cohen, Hughes, Viktor Petrenko, Nicole Bobek, Philippe Candeloro and Todd Eldridge.

She also shelled out another $50,000 on unnamed consultants -- Modlin admitted to The Post that one was her best friend -- over three years.

Another $13,000 was paid out in 2003 for unspecified "supplies." She spent $65,727 that year on advertising and $13,289 in rent. In 2006 Modlin spent $1,429 on advertising and $11,081 in miscellaneous show expenses, records show.

The agent said they collected just enough to rent the venues. But Connecticut's Danbury Arena charges nonprofits just $295 per half-hour.

The group's mission seemed to change as frequently as a sequined skater's costume.

Last week, Modlin told The Post that the goal instead was to educate the 100 children who skated each year about the terrorist attack.

"We saw that these kids were so inspired," she said. "They got to meet a fireman or they got to meet Nancy Kerrigan."

Will any of these crooks be indicted?