The Completionist charity fraud: Two scenarios [UPDATED]

UPDATE: Further investigation from others has brought more information to light in this situation. The new revelations have been included as an addendum at the end of this article. The remaining text below, some of which is now outdated, is retained as it was originally published.

Recently, thanks to some bold investigative reporting from Karl Jobst and from Mutahar Anas of YouTube channel “SomeOrdinaryGamers”, it was discovered that a nonprofit founded by YouTube personality Jirard Khalil, better known as The Completionist (formerly “ThatOneVideoGamer”) had been misrepresenting its claimed charity work for years.

Honestly, you should just watch both of those videos for the backstory. But in short, the “Open Hand Foundation” founded by Jirard and his family have been accepting donations and filing IRS reports for nearly 10 years. Following the establishment of the gaming marathon IndieLand in 2018, most of these donations were received through that event, with the expressed pledge that every dollar would go to dementia research.

However, since Open Hand Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization, those IRS reports are public, and contradict what Jirard and OHF have been telling the public. Aside from modest (albeit curiously fluctuating) operating expenses, $655,520 in donations intended for dementia research are reportedly just sitting in the charity’s bank account, collecting dust.

You can find links to these filings and many other sources in this helpful Reddit overview.

Make no mistake about it: Whatever the true story behind all of this is, the repeated false statements to the public on behalf of Open Hand Foundation constitute charity fraud. You can’t just tell people whatever you want to get them to donate to your charity, no matter how well-intentioned you think you are. However, there’s another potential layer to this scandal – one being missed by many casual observers. Ultimately, the possible outcomes can be broadly sorted into two basic scenarios.

THE BEST CASE SCENARIO

The premise behind the “best case scenario” here is that the money – over $600k – is still sitting in the same bank account where it was deposited. Thus, now that the charity’s failure to act has been publicized, the money could be given to some worthwhile endeavor as soon as tomorrow.

However, such a resolution doesn’t ameliorate the situation. People whose families have been affected by dementia didn’t donate this money under the premise that it would be stored away in a vault for years, losing value relative to inflation. If Open Hand Foundation had simply stated up front that they intended to amass a target goal over a series of years before giving that large sum to a worthy recipient to be decided at that time, donors could have made an informed decision as to whether to offer their money to OHF or to another institution with an outcome more to their preference.

These promises were not simply vague references to unspecified organizations conducting dementia research, either. Jirard, as the public face of OHF, has for years been naming specific organizations the charity has supposedly been partnering with. At about 4:40 in Karl’s video, you can hear Jirard’s list of OHF’s alleged recipients, which includes “USF”, the Alzheimer’s Association of America, a seemingly fictional entity called “FTD Association of America” (possibly a misrecollection of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration), as well as, in Jirard’s words, “so many more” such institutions. If one took Jirard at his word, one would think OHF is really spreading this generously given money around! At 1:50 in the same video, you can hear Jirard allude to the global nature of the help being provided:

My father, my brother, and I started a foundation called the Open Hand Foundation that raises money for dementia research and treatment for organizations all over the world.

Alternatively, OHF’s website lists as its lone partner the University of California, San Francisco:

However, again, per IRS filings, no donations have actually been transferred. When Karl inquired with OHF directly, he received a reply from Jirard’s brother, Jacque Khalil. As you can see at about 22:20 in Muta’s video, Jacque said “UCSF is acknowledged on our website as a part of our historical contributions”. (This is based on their claim that OHF made a donation to UCSF years prior to their IRS filings, for which there is no proof.) However, as you see above, OHF’s website offers nothing to indicate any legacy status to this relationship. If you simply look for OHF’s partners, you would see UCSF listed under the heading “Benefactors”, with a present-tense note that “Open Hand Foundation supports the following organizations in their research and support for Frontotemporal Dementia and other benevolent causes”. (Note that such a description would apply to “beneficiaries”, and thus the heading “benefactors” would seem to be an error.)

Even worse, as both Karl and Muta point out in their videos, the site contains a poorly proofread quote from David A. Kessler, formerly the commissioner of the FDA and later dean and vice-chancellor at UCSF:

The exact origin and context of this alleged quote has not been determined. However, as both Karl and Muta pointed out, Kessler left UCSF in 2007, years prior to the start of OHF’s tax filings. (In fairness to Mr. Kessler, while it has been accurately reported that UCSF “fired” him, Kessler characterized himself as a whistle-blower over financial misrepresentation, and a later investigation vindicated him.) While the Kessler quote could still be more-or-less genuine, it would almost certainly relate to a personal endowment years prior to the monetary donations OHF has received, which are the funds at issue. However, once again, this quote is simply presented as proof that the organizations’ contributions are being used to further “degenerative diseases research” in the here and now.

Even aside from specific claims of who the money is supposedly going to, there are conflicting statements as to the general cause allegedly being funded. Since the inception of the IndieLand gaming marathon, also organized by Jirard, both IndieLand and OHF have remained close partners – close enough that each of the “Donate” buttons on the IndieLand website lead directly to OHF. However, while OHF’s claims around their donations refer to “dementia research”, the IndieLand website alternatively contains an allusion suggesting that donated money would also go to support “those suffering from dementia” in some unspecified fashion:

It’s not just the eventual fate of these donations that are being misrepresented, either. Right at the start of Karl’s video, you can hear Jirard declare during a charity stream:

All that money goes to dementia research, we don’t touch any of it, we just work with the people who do need the money, and we help them do their thing.

This is a common point you hear from charity partners. “We don’t touch the money, we just send it over to the people who can use it.” However, when proper charities say this, they literally mean that they don’t touch the money. Donors are either encouraged to give directly to the destination charity, or the fundraiser uses a third party service to handle the money in a way that can be publicly tracked. In this case, OHF was doing literally the opposite of what Jirard as its spokesperson was claiming. Literally all they ever did was handle the money.

This point gets even worse, however, with the revelation that OHF’s assets were occasionally being used to fund production of the IndieLand marathon. As you can hear at about 29:50 in Muta’s video, Jirard assures Muta and Karl that this only happened “some years”, and no more than $2,000 at a time. To be clear, every charity marathon from Games Done Quick and Desert Bus for Hope down to small aspiring speedrun marathons all have operating expenses, and only the most shoestring of operations can simply write them off as negligible. (Major marathons work with their charity partners ahead of time to cover expenses while ensuring all donations go directly to the charity. However, ironically, since OHF had no actual charity partners, this was not an option for them.) The issue is not that the IndieLand marathon costs money to produce. The problem is, this stands again in stark contrast to the assurance that OHF doesn’t touch any of the money. It wasn’t true in the literal sense, and it wasn’t even true in the figurative sense. And it seems Jirard knew this.

What this evidence shows is a pattern, indicating a willingness to simply tell prospective donors whatever they want to hear, or whatever OHF organizers think will drive the most donations, with no regard to the veracity of these statements. This conduct undermines alternative charitable foundations attempting to conduct themselves honestly, and erodes trust in the charity ecosystem in general. If the Khalil family wanted to run their otherwise legitimate charity fund in such an unorthodox fashion, that’s their choice to make, but they needed to be up front about these operations. There should be no need to tell the public falsehoods to lure their contributions and their engagement away from other efforts that more closely align with their wishes.

All of this paints a bleak outlook into this institution that so many have trusted for years. And remember, that’s the best case scenario. Unfortunately, one must also acknowledge the possibility of a much bleaker outcome.

THE WORST CASE SCENARIO

The premise behind the best case scenario was that the over $600k is in the charity’s bank account, awaiting action. However, an important detail some have overlooked is that there is no real evidence the money still exists. The claim that OHF currently has $600k in assets is based on the IRS filing, which itself is not proof of anything. To date, no bank statement or other objective corroboration has been provided by Open Hand Foundation. There is also no indication of any IRS audit to confirm the continued existence of these claimed assets. While it would be very brazen for OHF’s organizers to lie to the IRS, with all the other falsehoods being offered and the documented negligence being admitted to, the possibility that the money has disappeared outright – in other words, the “worst case scenario” – cannot be ruled out at this time.

Indeed, while some of Jirard’s statements as OHF’s spokesperson could hypothetically be chalked up to negligence, it is difficult to dismiss all of his behavior in this fashion. At about 27:00 in Muta’s video, you can hear Jirard’s answer to the question of when he discovered the funds had been sitting unspent:

I was made aware in 2021 the money hadn’t moved yet. And that’s what made me go “That’s not fucking cool.” And that’s when I got personally involved to move it, and… not 2021, last year, 2022.

When Karl subsequently asked if Jirard had previously been told that the money was going somewhere, and if he had been misled, Jirard was clear that he had not:

No no no, no one told me anything. I was… I assumed that it was all going to a charity, and I assumed incorrectly.

Jirard chose not to implicate anyone else in his family or the OHF organization for misleading him. However, in doing so, Jirard essentially had to admit he had no basis for everything he had been asserting to the public. Nobody told him the money was going to UCSF, or Alzheimer’s Association of America, or the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration a.k.a. “FTD Association of America”. If Jirard is to be taken at his own word, he apparently made all of those up out of thin air. And as noted in Karl’s and Muta’s videos, Jirard’s recollection that he discovered this in either 2021 or 2022 does not align favorably with his continued public assurances in 2023 that the money was going to these organizations. Jirard continued misrepresenting the charity even after a point when he admits he knew his statements were untrue.

Ultimately, a scammer’s two goals are to get people’s money, and to avoid detection. Ideally, this involves a display of professionalism, but if compromising evidence emerges, or if certain questions come up, this can shift to a reliance on a visage of ineptitude – in other words, “We’re not evil, we’re just incompetent”. As an example, it’s entirely possible that Jirard did discover just “last year” that the money hadn’t gone anywhere, and that he was since actively working to find a suitable recipient, and that he has been unable to because he really does have impossibly high standards, and… that he… just forgot all of this when he continued telling the public the opposite. However, it’s also likely that someone aware that their operation is a scam would know to always tell any nosy journalists that they’re actively working to correct the discrepancies which they themselves just discovered “last year”. Obviously, this alone is proof of absolutely nothing. Hanlon’s Razor is a thing. But it should be a red flag when the displayed “incompetent” course of action is indistinguishable from the actions of someone intentionally pulling a fast one, while hoping uncomfortable questions go away on their own.

And these are not the only such red flags. As a Discord sleuth pointed out, there does exist a genuine charity named “Project Open Hand”, from which an element of Open Hand Foundation’s story may have been borrowed:

Project Open Hand was founded in the 1980s in San Francisco, with the goal of delivering meals to those suffering from HIV or AIDS, during the height of that epidemic. Later, Project Open Hand expanded to delivering meals to those suffering from other chronic illnesses, and to seniors. Most notably, in 2014 (around the time Jirard’s Open Hand Foundation began filing IRS reports), Project Open Hand partnered with the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine on a nutrition study. Thus, if somebody were to visit the website of the Khalil family’s Open Hand Foundation, then seek out UCSF as the only listed beneficiary (or “benefactor”) and ask the university if they’re partnered with a charity called “Open Hand”, a UCSF representative would likely have answered in the affirmative. This could all be a wild coincidence, but it could also have been very deliberate.

(Note there is also an “Open Hands Foundation” in Minnesota which runs a shelter for at-risk youth. This organization also has no apparent ties to the Khalil family.)

Even if one were to take OHF’s story at face value, the circumstances behind the operation remain highly dubious. Normally, a charity partner is found before funds are raised. However, subsequent to this revelation, the public is expected to believe OHF’s organizers were so eager to raise money for dementia research that they began doing so all on their own without any idea of what they would actually do with that money. OHF then continued putting the cart before the horse in this way for years – a practice they should know was not appropriate, given their public insistence to the contrary. As seen in Karl’s and Muta’s coverage, conflicting and dubious justifications for this policy have been offered, including that OHF continues seeking a beneficiary that meets its incredulously high standards, or that a larger total is still being sought to offset what they perceive to be prohibitive administrative costs associated with the obvious choices of research foundations. In the meantime, the money continues to accumulate out of sight.

One may ask, if this was an attempt to scam donations for personal use, what exactly would have been the exit plan? Surely, at some point, somebody would notice this discrepancy in their filings, and the IRS would come asking about the money. Indeed, OHF’s organizers could have inflated their administrative costs all along as a way of funneling money to themselves, if that was their goal. While the expenses claimed on their IRS returns are not itemized – a fact which in itself is peculiar for a charity foundation – the sum totals given have not been noted as excessive. However, it could also be true that this endeavor did not start with ill intentions and that the money has since been misspent anyway. It should go without saying that sometimes, access to money changes people. Perhaps in the interim, some of this idle money was borrowed by an OHF organizer for a side venture with the intention of a repayment the lender may or may not have followed through on. It’s also possible that the fate of the money has been compartmentalized among the organizers, although this is unlikely to absolve Jirard of his misleading public statements. It could also be that money was extracted with the thought that an official justification for the money’s disappearance could be devised later, as long as they kept postponing this grand endowment they were supposedly building toward.

To be clear, no one outside of OHF can say for certain at this time whether misled donors are dealing with a “best case” or “worst case” scenario. Ultimately, this can only be settled by either an IRS audit, or a donation to a qualifying dementia research establishment which can confirm receipt of the money. In their publicized conversation, Karl advised Jirard to donate the money to the institutions he had been citing all along, even if OHF does not consider them optimal, because that’s where Jirard had been telling donors the money would be going. (Indeed, those organizations shouldn’t be that sub-optimal, if the perception of their association was that valuable in OHF’s promotion.) However, if that money has vanished, trusting donors could find themselves waiting a long time for an answer that will never come…

INCOMPLETION

This news has understandably sent shockwaves through the gaming subculture. While many were slow to accept allegations against such a highly regarded figure as Jirard, and while Jirard’s old friends were quick to come to his defense (sometimes without bothering to review the actual evidence), many have since come to understand the serious nature of the claims against him and the “charity” he represents. On Tuesday, esports team FlyQuest (one of IndieLand’s presenting partners) tweeted out the following message, assuring the public they are taking the allegations seriously and are seeking “clarity on the matter” directly from Open Hand Foundation:

Nobody from OHF has made any public comment on the matter since the release of Karl’s and Muta’s videos. Not only that, while Jirard’s “The Completionist” YouTube channel had previously enjoyed routine weekly uploads, those seem to have stopped altogether, at least for now. Meanwhile, Karl Jobst’s video was the target of a privacy complaint, on the basis that the video showed OHF’s address:

It’s not clear if this was an attempt to have the entire video taken down, or merely hassle Karl for the trouble of blurring out the address itself. It’s not even clear that this complaint originated from someone directly affiliated with OHF. However, YouTube does not allow third-party privacy complaints, and thus would only follow up as they did if they believed the complaint was filed by someone representing OHF. At any rate, since the address shown was the same one OHF lists on their own website, YouTube chose not to intervene.

The lack of response from Open Hand Foundation would be understandable, given they have certainly spoken to a lawyer who advised them to stay silent. However, this once again reignites concerns. Where is the money for this lawyer coming from? If the donated funds are eventually discovered to have disappeared, will the Khalil family circularly blame that on legal expenses incurred as a result of Karl’s and Muta’s reporting?

As for Jirard’s reputation, while it may be difficult to believe at this time, he can mostly recover from this, provided the money is still in OHF’s account and is given to a worthy beneficiary in the near future. His statements eliciting those donations will always be scrutinized, and he will never be trusted as a charity spokesperson again, but others have recovered their reputations from actions worse than his. However, all of this assumes the “best case scenario”. If that money is instead gone, no matter which member of OHF’s administration is responsible, then there will be no reconciliation of Jirard’s reputation. Ever.

One can talk about best case and worst case scenarios all they want, but the public still lacks the proof to make a firm conclusion either way. However, one thing is for certain: The longer it takes to get an answer, the worse that answer looks.

A THIRD SCENARIO

[UPDATE – Published December 6, 2023] The above article, discussing two possible outcomes to the Completionist charity scandal, has been preserved as it was originally published on November 20th. However, two new developments have warranted an update, resulting in the emergence of an unexpected third scenario.

On Monday, December 4th, it was announced that the Khalil family’s Open Hand Foundation had, at long last, donated $600,000 to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. This announcement came by way of updates published on the AFTD website:

https://www.theaftd.org/posts/6press-releases/nations-leading-frontotemporal-dementia-focused-organization-receives-600000-gift-for-vital-research-and-family-support/

https://www.theaftd.org/posts/front-page/open-hand-foundation-provides-aftd-600k-for-ftd-research/

While a grant of this size is newsworthy in and of itself, it’s likely these announcements were also a requirement for the grant, as they provide confirmation to the public that most of the $655,520 at issue has now been donated. Furthermore, the detailed press release outlines how the use of this money is “restricted”, satisfying what Jirard claimed was his expectations around such a contribution from Open Hand:

This press release was also republished by various news outlets, including Yahoo Finance. Interestingly, as others have pointed out, the contact link for Open Hand points to a public relations firm, Miller PR. It’s not known how much money was paid for their services, or where that money came from (i.e., whether that came from the $655k pool which donors were assured would exclusively go to dementia research).

To be clear, it’s good that $600k of the accumulated money has been donated. It’s a much better resolution to the question of those missing funds than some were expecting. However, as described in this original article, the “best case scenario” does not mean OHF’s organizers and representatives are free of guilt. The repeated assurances from Jirard Khalil that the money was already going to specific organizations, all while he admittedly knew that no such beneficiary had been identified and secured, remain troubling. It’s also not clear if this donation would have been made in this fashion at this time had the tax filing discrepancies not been identified and reported on.

This donation was received on Wednesday, November 29th, a few days prior to the public announcement. Curiously, what did not accompany this December 4th announcement was a video from Jirard himself, the accomplished YouTuber with a prominent channel, acknowledging the gift and addressing the controversy. However, that may have to do with yet more shocking revelations, by way of further update videos from both Karl Jobst and Mutahar Anas:

Once again, you should watch both of those videos for the full details. However, in short, more sources of funding for Open Hand have been discovered, which aren’t reflected in the $655k total listed in Open Hand’s tax filings. These include annual grants from Jamie Lee Curtis’ “Syzygy Foundation”, various other revenue streams relating to IndieLand (including things like Twitch subs, ad revenue, and merchandise sales), and most notably, revenue generated by a golf tournament organized by PBD West, a company owned by the Khalil family.

Again, the full details can be found in Karl’s and Muta’s videos. Most notably, sponsorship tiers for each of these events were announced, giving the public a baseline for how much revenue could be expected. As one example, as discussed at 23:00 in Muta’s update, golf cart branding from one event was only referenced at the $10,000 tier, and yet five such sponsors can be seen in photos from that event. All of this results in many more thousands of dollars which remain unaccounted for.

What is perhaps most disturbing is that, as Muta attempts to identify what revenue is and is not accounted for, he notes that the tax filings only seem to reflect the money outside of the Khalil family’s control. In other words, the official totals are approximately the totals one would arrive at if they added donations made through Tiltify via IndieLand, which are all public, in addition to the grant from Curtis. The community is left to take the Khalil family’s word as to how much incidental money may have been raised or donated through other means. And as for the Golf event, payments were directed in the form of paper checks, sent to PBD West’s business address. Of note is that paper checks can prove much more fungible than bank transfers, in that anyone representing Open Hand Foundation can deposit them into any account without any record beyond that of the paper check itself.

And thus a third scenario in this fiasco has emerged. Most of the money originally inquired about has been identified and produced, which previously would have been the “best case scenario” (which, again, was itself not ideal). And yet, now the public is still being left in the dark regarding charitable donations possibly exceeding even the staggering totals discussed in the “worst case scenario”.

At this point, the only solution to this debacle is a full audit from the relevant authority, which in this case is California attorney general Rob Bonta. The link to file a charity complaint calling for an investigation is here:

https://oag.ca.gov/charities/complaints