Greg Mortenson's Stories From 'Three Cups Of Tea' Called Into Question By '60 Minutes' (VIDEO)

After telling his life story, Greg Mortenson sold millions of books and raised tens of millions of dollars for his charity.

After "60 Minutes" aired on Sunday night, some observers may find the whole thing too good to be true.

"It's a beautiful story, and it's a lie," Jon Krakauer told CBS' Steve Kroft. Krakauer, an author and adventurer like Mortenson, originally backed the education nonprofit, Central Asia Institute, with $75,000 of his own money before withdrawing his support. He wasn't the only one to find fault with Mortenson's claims, which include being nursed back to health in the Pakistani town of Korphe after failing to summit K2 (the second tallest mountain on Earth) and being kidnapped for eight days by the Taliban.

There's little doubt that Mortenson's efforts have produced some results for children in need -- even his detractors acknowledge that much. But many people Kroft spoke with did question whether Mortenson has exaggerated his success and even fabricated parts of the legend that helped him get where he is today.

Kroft talked to sherpas who said there was no recovery visit to Korphe on that original K2 trip. He talked to men who denied being in the Taliban and denied the alleged kidnapping, contrary to the accusations that ran with their photos in Mortenson's book, "Three Cups of Tea." They even produced a photo showing Mortenson posing with the group and holding an AK-47 himself. Kroft talked to Pakistani educators who said they haven't seen money from the Central Asia Institute in years, that buildings funded by Mortenson were poorly made, and that some of the facilities weren't being used for their intended purpose. He also talked to a nonprofit expert who questioned the financial practices of the organization and why so much money had been spent promoting Mortenson's books.

After conducting interviews all around the world, the one person Kroft had trouble talking to was Mortenson, who refused to speak with "60 Minutes." But he did issue a statement to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. In it, Mortenson denied most of the specific allegations from the show, though acknowledged the story about Korphe was "a compressed version of events." He maintained that he was "detained" by the men he had claimed were in the Taliban, and defended the relationship between his personal finances and those of his organization.

Click here to read the story in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and watch the "60 Minutes" segment below:

Comments

[ndem]

06:05 AM on 04/27/2011

interesting link to Joanne King Herring of Charlie Wilson's War: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7354630.html

[luckybear]

05:17 PM on 04/23/2011

This guy is one piece of work. He was obsessed over his best seller status. Mortenson would take money from his charity "pennies for peace" and buy copies of his own book at retail stores (Borders, Barnes and Noble) to get his books back into the top spot on the best seller list. Of course he still collected royalties on these book "sales" (none of which goes to charity). Which to me sounds like embezzling money from charity.

I was under the impression that charities and foundations in the United States had to comply with rules and regulations. Looks like Mortenson just used his celebrity to line his own pocket. He belongs in jail for this deception. $1.8 million in speaking fees a year none of which goes to charity. I hope the IRS looks into the fact that Mortenson used a non profit as an ATM.

[falconusaf]

03:58 PM on 04/22/2011

Once again I ask; Is a lie EVER justified? Yes or No?

[luckybear]

05:21 PM on 04/23/2011

Greg Mortenson lied, gained accidental fame and used this fame to line his own pockets. So in this case the lie was not justified. None of his book sale royalties go to charity. He collects $1.8 million+ a year in speaking fees; none of which goes to charity. All the while CAI pays for all his expenses including private jets and five star hotels.

So very little greater good was achieved by Greg Mortenson's lies.

[MamaBird62]

01:28 PM on 04/22/2011

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/04/greg-mortenson-peter-hessler.html#commentAnchor_nyr_2000000001251921

Another good perspective.
Journalists, NGO managers, Pakistan policy experts, Pakistani education officials, people all over the world are pouring out their frustration over this because they had doubts about Mortenson for a long time. The most interesting part of this story may turn out to be how he got away with it for so many years.

[reader1]

10:39 PM on 04/21/2011

I was assigned stone to schools as a reading assignment in school. My teacher felt such joy and glee when she talked about greg mortenson and also about three cups of tea. Well we have another assignment now and it's to tell her what we think of the controversy. I think I'll have three cups of tea first!

[ethiopia1a]

10:53 AM on 04/21/2011

Nothing you read these days is entirely true...including this comment.

[Quinny]

01:03 AM on 04/21/2011

Anybody want to publish MY book?
It's a memoir, and it is ALL true....

Selah

[Itsbeenalongday]

09:29 PM on 04/20/2011

Being a long time worker in Afghanistan and now Pakistan and also being responsible for the constructions of some fifty schools, I am a long time cynic of Mortenson's program to build schools.

At the end of the day, schools are just Real Estate, what is missing in the whole program is teachers who have adequate qualification. In some parts of the country, teachers have less than third grade education them selves. In Kunduz province, it was found that out of five thousand teachers, only some 300 had any qualification while the rest had a range of education down to none.

In other parts of the country there are some hundreds of empty schools because of a lack of teachers and ongoing security risks. It is easy to report a school being constructed, it is a lot more difficult to report on its impact and effectiveness and Mortenson fails in that regard.

[fuzzynormal]

08:39 PM on 04/20/2011

There's a weird subset of folks that do charity work to further their own agenda, whatever it may be. It's strangely common.

Just sayin'.

[Itsbeenalongday]

09:30 PM on 04/20/2011

The further extension to this is Haliburton, for some it is just an easy way of doing business.

[meg21]

03:48 PM on 04/20/2011

I find it ironic that Jon Krakauer is so bothered with a few of the books "facts". Anyone read "Into Thin Air"? That was loaded with exaggerations as told by some of the members on that expedition and it was also counteracted by "The Climb" --a wonderful book by Anatoli Bourkreev who was a guide on the same expedition. Anatoli's book provides quite a different account on the rescue mission... If you really wanna see something --check out the low budg movie "into thin air". Jon Krakauer was so glorified in that movie it was near comical. That all said -I did enjoy his book and he's a great writer. Just thought it was interesting enough to share...

[peterack]

01:44 PM on 04/20/2011

Ironically, one needs three Tea Cups to do the famous "shell game!"

[Imago]

07:59 AM on 04/20/2011

Please read: http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-ga-greg-mortenson-interview-sidwcmdev_155690.html

before you pass judgment.

[bmcombs]

08:40 AM on 04/20/2011

Please. Read the Krakauer article. Everything Mortenson says is disputed and and manipulated to sound better.

I'm not sure why this man has such a cult-following. There are plenty of wonderful people doing wonderful things and so many charities doing similar work that has been reviewed by external auditors to VERIFY their results. Look elsewhere for inspiration and change.

[MamaBird62]

08:34 PM on 04/21/2011

Mortenson gave Americans the impression something hopeful to hold into in the midst of so much post-911 bad news from that part of the world. He did it masterfully. Unfortunately it was mostly a self-serving con.

[Tony581]

08:28 PM on 04/19/2011

Newsflash: no one is perfect. It is incredibly easy to tarnish any person alive who has committed good acts, because it is certain that they have also committed sinful acts. The question is how to do you arrive at a fair calculus of the person's worth to society? Does the embellishment of stories discredit a lifetime of charitable work? If that is the case, I refuse to do anything charitable in the future.

[chaap]

09:24 PM on 04/19/2011

Charity and community development work needs to be critically analyzed like any other profession to give it due respect and to consider it as an intelligent occupation. It is actually extremely hard process to enable or empower a community and there are many scholars such as Nabeel Hamdi etc, field workers who attest to such complexity in working with developing communities. I hope this article opens up the critical discussion required. I love this quote by Laila Lalami “I think an unexamined aspect of the Greg Mortenson scandal is this: some people want to believe that Eastern victims need Western saviors.”

[Tony581]

05:26 PM on 04/20/2011

I certainly do not have access to the primary data establishing whether and to what degree the charity in question spent its money in an appropriate fashion. Obviously, a thorough investigation will now occur. I worry that the primary whistelblower is a known liar: John Krakauer, a person who clearly made things up in his book "Into Thin Air." I also worry that the vehicle of the whistleblowing was "60 Minutes", a newsmagazine that has a spectacular record of inaccurate reporting.

[peterack]

01:47 PM on 04/20/2011

I agree with the "no one is perfect," etc. but this is a delicate argument to make. One may want to measure this guys worth in checks and balances...but really we can see that there are some schools built, but many not the way he advertises and many more schools that he says are built...are not. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and this could be a case for that. Inexcusable is taking a picture of your mountain guides and identifying them as terrorist who held you captive! I am shocked people aren't talking about this more.

[drjasonmd]

06:40 PM on 04/19/2011

Aw, that's okay. This whole thing was my fault. I learned that I shouldn't get high to come up with ideas. I should come up with ideas and then get high, to reward myself. [whips out his joint and lighter]

[nukemind]

04:40 PM on 04/19/2011

This is odd. He may have calculated that the only way to help was to concoct a story. Also, no denying he's done great work, but why the embellishment? Interestingly, he may not have raised the money for his organization if he hadn't come up with such a compelling story (assuming it's made-up). Having watched the 60 Minutes episode and witnessed Mortensen really squirm about this, he sure seems guilty. The real question may be has he enriched himself more than used his charity to help the children in south Central Asia?

[Tony581]

08:25 PM on 04/19/2011

Are you saying that an honest psychopathic killer is superior to a charitable person who embellishes stories?

[nukemind]

09:21 PM on 04/19/2011

Not at all.

[elizlucinda]

07:24 AM on 04/20/2011

I find it curious that you would compare one to the other.....the point is this. there are a lot of charities right now who are scrambling to raise money and I would prefer to give my money to someone who doesn't lie or embellish his achievements.