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March 07, 2008

Charity Linked to Fabricated Memoir May Also Be Fake

A nonprofit group linked to Margaret Seltzer, whose memoir about growing up as a gang member in South Central Los Angeles was recently revealed to be fabricated, may also be an invention of the writer, reports The New York Times.

Ms. Seltzer said she had founded or at least worked with the International Brother/SisterHood, a group she described as trying “to reduce gang violence and mentor urban teens.” But the Internal Revenue Service has no record of the organization in Oregon, where Ms. Seltzer lives, or California. The Web site was set up and paid for by Ms. Seltzer’s literary agent. Other groups that work to end gang violence in Los Angeles have not heard of the organization or Ms. Seltzer.

“I believe if she was active, I would probably know her by name or the organization,” says Malik Spellman, of Unity T.W.O., a Los Angeles antiviolence charity.

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