Miracle Hands Sued For Allegedly Building Strip Club, Not Helping AIDS Patients (VIDEO)

A convicted drug dealer is being sued for allegedly erecting a strip club with funds that were supposed to help HIV and AIDS patients find work.

Cornell Jones, of Miracle Hands, allegedly used a quarter of a million dollars of the organization’s money to build The Stadium Club, a strip club in Northeast Washington, WUSA9.com reports. According to Washington, DC Attorney General Irv Nathan, Jones received the money back in 2006, which was slated to build a job training center for people with AIDS.

The current club owner, James Redding, said he bought the property from Jones 18 months and that Jones has not been involved in the strip club in any way, the news outlet reported.

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Comments

[Mon Key]

10:37 PM on 09/02/2011

Hey, the formation of a strip club does help people with HIV. They need adult entertainment too, even more so if they can't touch, might as well go to a strip club to just see!

[jfinau]

11:23 PM on 09/01/2011

I'm disappointed in the fact that The Huffington Post allowed someone to write an article that completely fails to report the facts of the story. James Redding is the current owner of the property and did not implicate Cornell Jones in his decision to build and operate a strip club on said property. Epic Fail HuffPost...EPIC FAIL!

The real problem here is what happened to Cornell Jones and the money that was donated to his organization to help individuals infected with HIV/AIDS. This article and news clip fails to answer that question. The title of this article is extremely misleading.

[shelby4087]

03:31 PM on 09/01/2011

It's not such a far stretch from "Miracle Hands" to a strip club. What irony!

[bouvdoggie]

01:32 PM on 09/01/2011

Always check out a "charity" before you hand over any money. That has been drilled into our heads from the time our parents gave us a dime for the collection plate at church. The only reason this made news was the strip club bit.

[Ed Baggett]

12:39 PM on 09/01/2011

Maybe Jones has taken an extended vacation to some island....

[avercos]

11:57 AM on 09/01/2011

Years ago I worked for a "non profit" and the two other people I worked with were definately making profits at the taxpayer's expense. I was young and thought we were actually going to do something good for the community -- what a joke.

[tom8626]

02:52 PM on 09/01/2011

Do you know how a "non profit' works?

[avercos]

04:54 PM on 09/04/2011

Yes I do. I worked for a 501c3 for over 10 years. There are still ways to embezzle money, which the director and one other person did. I also know that some of the board members were involved, because after being told about what was happening, they didn't do anything.

Do you have any idea of how they work?

[NancyY]

11:48 AM on 09/01/2011

Didn't anyone watch the video? The guy who purchased the building and put the strip club there stated that when he bought the property there was a sign on it - "Miracle Hands". He also stated that there were some rooms partitioned off in the building, which he had demolished in order to accommodate his strip club business. He did not implicate "Miracle Hands" or Cornell Jones in anything, and in fact said that Jones was not in any way tied to his strip club business. Who knows, perhaps Jones made a good business decision in selling the property to Redding. The only question that remains is, what happened to Cornell Jones and the money from the sale of the property?

[WWARD4911]

12:49 PM on 09/01/2011

Well a strip club does put people to work too

[swami96]

06:09 PM on 09/01/2011

Good point. It's a legal business. Would there be an issue if the property had been sold to a book store? If a non-profit is in possession of property it does not need, isn't selling it for a good price the right thing to do? Yes, the real issues are the terms of the sale itself, and the money. What happened to the grant money if it was not used to build the center? What happened to the money from the sale? Why did Jones sell it instead of use it for the originally intended purpose? Was the sale above-board and legit, for market value?

[Rteefact]

11:33 AM on 09/01/2011

Who wrote this article........he either is or he isn't involved. Horrible reporting.

James Redding is the current owner of the club. He says he bought the property 18 months ago from Cornell Jones when the only thing on the property was a rundown building. According to Redding, Jones is not in any way involved with the strip club, and never has been.

Redding, who is not named in the lawsuit, also says that as far as he knows the allegations against Cornell Jones are not true: That Jones never built a strip club on the property and, as far as he knows, never intended to.

[bluerosesky79]

11:32 AM on 09/01/2011

That man absolutely sucks!!! Scammers in charity only makes people trust and give less. I hope he pays big time for that!!

[bluerosesky79]

11:50 AM on 09/02/2011

Hey, Kenoshaguy, I'm from kenosha, too! :-)

[ilegion]

11:21 AM on 09/01/2011

So the guy took the money for AIDS patients and instead open a business with the sole purpose of helping single moms find stable, well paying jobs. I don't see a problem here...

[Dede Eagleburger]

01:38 PM on 09/01/2011

me neither, especially after reading the last paragraph, the guy didn't open the business, he sold the property! so as long as the money he got for selling the property, went to the charity, why is this a story?

[tom8626]

02:55 PM on 09/01/2011

Where did you see that the profit went to the charity, I read it twice and never saw that mentioned!

[4me2knw]

11:01 AM on 09/01/2011

No more tax breaks for nonprofits. Most of them are just scams anyway.

[bgzcle]

10:55 AM on 09/01/2011

Put him in Jail with Dick Chenny, they are both guilty of icrimes against humanity!

[sevnwolves]

11:03 AM on 09/01/2011

So long as they have to share a cell with 'bamas acorn people, I'm good.

[Inspiringangela]

10:43 AM on 09/01/2011

Over $250,000 of your hard earned money was taken from you in the form of taxes and given to a drug dealer to build strip clubs. This is your government at work!

[ww745]

11:00 AM on 09/01/2011

Nothing new. We get the government we deserve.

[Romeo Velvette]

10:37 AM on 09/01/2011

Was it an ACTUAL strip club, or was it actually a STRIPPED DOWN club? I'm so confused I tell you! My gehappenschlapper has a hairy mole on it. Thieves and vulchers all of them! Where can I go to get help? I'm half Democrat and half Republican and one third Puerco Rican. Does that make me elligible for ANYTHING? Sigh....It's all so confusing.

[shirleeinny]

10:37 AM on 09/01/2011

lets wait until we know all the facts before we start throwing stones..

[tom8626]

02:57 PM on 09/01/2011

Now there's a novel idea! Finally someone with some common sense!