FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Organizations Recruited Children to Sell Candy to Fund Nonexistent Scholarships and Youth Activities
BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and Secretary of State Susan C. Lee today announced that two deceptive nonprofits, Maryland Youth Club of America, Inc. (Maryland Youth Club) and Virginia Youth Club of America, Inc. (Virginia Youth Club), will permanently shut down and that their founder, Jule Huston, as well as other officers and directors, are banned from operating a charity or soliciting charitable contributions in Maryland. As a result of settlements finalized in Virginia and the District of Columbia, Huston is also barred from forming a charity or soliciting charitable contributions and from serving as an officer or director of any charitable organization in DC and Virginia.
The settlements resolve a joint investigation by the Attorneys General of Maryland, DC, and Virginia, and the Maryland Secretary of State. The Agencies allege that Maryland Youth Club and Virginia Youth Club recruited school-age children to sell candy door-to-door, telling people that the proceeds would fund scholarships and enrichment activities for at-risk kids, when, in fact, the adults running the programs illegally used the funds for their own personal benefit.
Maryland Youth Club and Virginia Youth Club operated in a similar manner and with a similar purpose as DMV Futures, Inc., a Maryland organization that was ordered to stop soliciting by Secretary Lee in May of last year. DMV Futures, Inc. lost their appeal to overturn the cease and desist order in October 2025 and is also permanently banned from soliciting charitable contributions in Maryland.
“These adults exploited children twice—first by sending them door-to-door as salespeople, then by misusing the money donors thought would help at-risk youth,” said Attorney General Brown. “We've shut down these sham operations and banned the people behind them from ever running a charity in Maryland again.”
“Our office strongly opposes deceptive charitable practices and will take decisive action to ensure the integrity and health of the nonprofit sector and to protect generous Marylanders,” said Secretary of State, Susan C. Lee. “We are committed to keeping bad actors out of the nonprofit world and upholding Maryland’s charity laws.”
Maryland Youth Club is a tax-exempt nonprofit incorporated in Maryland that was registered to solicit charitable contributions in Maryland. Virginia Youth Club is a tax-exempt nonprofit incorporated in Virginia also registered to solicit charitable contributions in Maryland. Jule Huston, a New York resident, served as president of both organizations.
Both Maryland Youth Club and Virginia Youth Club claimed that their purpose was to support youth programs and activities intended to “rescue teens from challenging environments before they become statistics” through scholarships, trips, enrichment activities, and other benefits. The organizations recruited middle-school-aged and high-school-aged children and then drove them to various neighborhoods around Maryland, Virginia, and DC to sell candy door-to-door. The children were instructed to tell buyers that their charitable purchases would support charitable activities benefiting youth.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation with authorities from Washington, DC and Virginia, as well as the Maryland Office of the Secretary of State. The joint investigation found evidence to support the following allegations:
· Maryland Youth Club and Virginia Youth Club misrepresented their charitable programs to the public. Maryland Youth Club and Virginia Youth Club collected over $857,000 in gross sales by representing to the public that the soliciting children would have part-time jobs, earn cash every week, get free trips, activities, and cool prizes. The organizations, however, were unable to show that children were consistently paid for their work soliciting charitable contributions, or that they received many of the trips, scholarships, or other benefits they were promised.
· The organizations misled consumers by falsely claiming that purchases would support at-risk youth.
· Maryland Youth Club’s president, Jule Huston, illegally diverted charitable funds for his own personal benefit and the benefit of other private individuals. Between 2022 and 2023, Huston transferred a total of more than $23,000 from Maryland Youth Club’s bank account to his personal CashApp account, to his mother, to a New York corporation he created, and to an officer of Virginia Youth Club. Maryland Youth Club also incurred significant expenses in New York, where Huston resides, including from local gas stations, Petco, AutoZone, Walmart, and other businesses. A large amount of the funds collected by Maryland Youth Club and Virginia Youth Club remain unaccounted for.
· Huston intentionally and illegally destroyed nonprofit financial records. He destroyed financial books and other records for Maryland Youth Club for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement resolving allegations that Maryland Youth Club, Virginia Youth Club, and Huston committed multiple violations of the Maryland Solicitations Act:
· Maryland Youth Club and Virginia Youth Club will be permanently dissolved. The organizations stopped doing business during the multistate investigation. Now, Huston must take all necessary steps to formally dissolve Maryland Youth Club in Maryland and Virginia Youth Club in Virginia and must provide documentation of dissolution to Maryland.
· Huston and other directors and officers of Maryland Youth Club and Virginia Youth Club are permanently banned from soliciting charitable contributions or operating a nonprofit in Maryland. Huston is also specifically banned from serving as an officer, director, or in any role related to the collection or handling of charitable contributions, and from engaging in any charitable solicitation in Maryland, including by serving as a consultant or advisor to a nonprofit.
· Maryland Youth Club, Virginia Youth Club, and Huston will make a $5,000 payment that will be redirected to area nonprofits that serve at-risk youth.
The settlement agreement is available here.
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