ACORN staff filmed telling prostitutes how to cheat on taxes

ACORN also gave the prostitute and pimp tips on how to claim underage El Salvadorian girls as dependents on their taxes. The news of this story broke on the site BigGovernment.com this morning, which has the tape and transcript of the incident. It can be viewed by the public. The filmmaker, James O'Keefe and an associate named "Kenya," posed as a pimp and prostitute on July 24th when they visited the Baltimore office of ACORN. The two undercover filmmakers told the ACORN workers they wanted to obtain housing, where the woman could continue to run a prostitution business. The tape clearly shows "Kenya" saying that she makes $8,000 a month and an ACORN employee says that they could submit a tax return for $9600 for the whole year, versus the actual $96,000. The employee also said ACORN would only charge her $50 to do her taxes, instead of the usual $150. The tape continues with an ACORN employee suggesting "Kenya," puts down her occupation as a "performing artist." James O'Keefe then tells the ACORN workers that they are taking in 13 underage El Salvadorian girls to work as prostitutes. "What if they are going to be making money because they are performing tricks too?" O'Keefe asks. "If they making money and they are underage, then you shouldn't be letting anybody know anyway," the ACORN staffer says, and laughs. "It's illegal. So I am not hearing this, I am not hearing this. You talk too much. Don't give up no information you're not asked." "If we don't have the information, then how are we going to discriminate?" the ACORN staffer replies. "You see what I am saying?" The "pimp" asks the ACORN workers what would happen if the organization was linked to the prostitution ring. The employee responded "First of all, it's not gonna damage us because we not gonna know. And with your girls, you tell them, 'Be careful.' Train them to keep their mouth shut." "These girls are like 14, how can we trust them?" the pimp asks. "Just be very, very careful," the ACORN staffer says. "Whatever you do, always keep your eyes in the back of your head." Fox News asked O'Keefe about his video and his response was "I was prepared for them to call the police, throw me out of the office and be hostile," he said. "Without hesitation, they helped me every way they could with evading taxes and setting me up with a brothel, with getting around federal tax laws — doing everything they could to help us. I was completely shocked." A spokesman for ACORN, Scott Levenson, told Fox News about the video tape: "The portrayal is false and defamatory and an attempt at gotcha journalism. This film crew tried to pull this sham at other offices and failed. ACORN wants to see the full video before commenting further." ACORN has long been the subject of controversy due to their voter registration tactics. Just yesterday, 11 individuals associated with the organization were arrested in Miami-Dade county in Florida for illegally registering almost 900 people to vote. This past July, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), the top Republican seated on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called for a nationwide criminal investigation into the organization. House Republicans issued a report on the group and accused them of engaging in a massive scheme to use tax dollars to promote a radical left agenda. It was also reported earlier this year, that ACORN will take part in the U.S. Census in counting people and be paid to do so, despite their reputation of voter fraud and now aiding prostitution and tax fraud. "It's a concern, especially when you look at all the different charges of voter fraud. And it's not just the lawmakers' concern. It should be the concern of every citizen in the country," said Congressman Lynn A. Westmoreland (R-GA).