Plenty of blame to share

Back in December 2001, the Children's Hospital Foundation hired the Babock Agency to manage the charity vehicle-donation program. Under the arrangement, Gregory Babock and other executives started a group called Charity Vehicle Systems. The Washington Times explains it this way:

Vehicle donation programs are common among charities, which solicit the cars and trucks, usually by touting the tax benefits. Some nonprofits then outsource the towing and selling process to private firms in exchange for a percentage of the final sale price.

However, before long Mr. Babock and Charity Vehicle Systems alerted the foundation about "possible problems" with how donations were handled. On Wednesday, a lawsuit that had been filed by the foundation back in Janaury 2005 accusing Babock of mismanaging nearly $700,000 in donations was dropped as part of a confidential settlement.