Oregon sues leader of Lincoln County-based disaster relief organization for misspending $837,000 in donations

By TROY BRYNELSON/Oregon Public Broadcasting

The head of a Lincoln County disaster relief nonprofit founded after Oregon’s destructive 2020 Labor Day wildfires allegedly misspent donations on strip clubs, casino visits and other illicit expenses.

Marcus Brooks, the founder and director of Cascade Relief Team based in Otis, is accused of siphoning $837,000 of donations to the nonprofit that were earmarked for victims of wildfires, floods and tornadoes in Oregon and Kentucky.

In a 24-page lawsuit filed Thursday in Multnomah County circuit court, the Oregon Department of Justice claims Brooks set up the organization with a “disinterested board of directors” to reap donations — largely from Oregonians — and public contracts.

That money paid Brooks’ salary and a slew of illegal expenses, the lawsuit claims. The complaint alleges he spent $270,861 on credit cards and personal bills; $67,885 on rent, child support, liquor, jewelry, restaurants and entertainment; $116,133 in travel expenses without any “recognizable connection to disaster relief,” including stops at Disneyland and vacation rentals in Florida.

Brooks spent at least $6,000 at casinos, the complaint claims. The Oregon State Fire Marshal joined the Department of Justice in the lawsuit.

Oregon Public Broadcasting made multiple attempts to contact Brooks through two phone numbers associated with him and the nonprofit but received no response by press time.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield in a statement pledged to hold Brooks “accountable for every dollar he took.”

Investigators said Brooks formed Cascade Relief Team in the wake of the deadliest wildfire season in Oregon’s history. Around Labor Day weekend 2020, multiple fires roared to life across the state to torch more than a million acres — including burning 300 homes in the north Lincoln County community of Otis.

Brooks “capitalized” on the devastation, investigators said, by forming a “sham” organization that was governed by board members who, ultimately, never attended any meetings or saw any financial records. Donations poured in. The organization notched $48,000 in revenue in 2020 and another $941,587 in 2021, according to public filings required of nonprofit organizations.

Brooks, meanwhile, began a pattern of drying out bank accounts. Investigators said he opened several accounts at a time for donations, spent them into the red and ignored rising bank fees. Banks would close his accounts, only for Brooks to move on to another financial institution. Investigators said Brooks had opened and used about 26 different bank accounts.

Brooks’ organization also collected contract money through government agencies and disaster relief organizations. At one point, the Oregon Department of Human Services paid the organization $60 an hour to help disaster-struck Oregonians but did not renew the eight-month contract after developing “concerns” about the organization, according to the complaint.

Brooks also landed a $100,000 contract with the State Fire Marshal to clean up debris and help remove trees associated with multiple wildfires in the state. He ghosted the organization shortly after getting the grant, the complaint said, and never completed the work.

In November 2023, Brooks landed a $326,000 contract with the Red Cross to help tornado victims in Kentucky. That money was sent to an account with $17,000 in overdraft fees, leaving $309,000 remaining that Brooks never doled out to tornado victims, according to investigators.

Oregon Justice Department officials wrote in the complaint that they hoped to see Brooks ordered to repay the donations and pay the costs associated with the lawsuit and investigation. They also suggested that Brooks be permanently ban him from any fiduciary duties of a charity.

To read the entire lawsuit against Marcus Brooks, go here