Investigation Shuts Down Brittany Murphy Foundation Website

After the death of actress Brittany Murphy. her widower, Simon Monjack and her mother, Sharon Murphy, established what was supposed to be a charity organization set up in her honor to assist arts education for children. However, an investigation by TMZ found out that the claimed charity was not registered with either the IRS or with the state of California, yet had been accepting donations through a website since January.

Further investigating by TMZ failed to find any financial disclosure statement as required by law on the claimed charity website as well. TMZ also failed to get any reply from an email sent to Simon Monjack regarding the website. And after calls by TMZ to the state of California, and to the foundation, the website was taken down for "maintenance" an hour later. Now a statement posted on the website tells those who want to donate funds to "check back later".

Probably, the Brittany Murphy Foundation is a well intentioned organization. But, bravo to TMZ for keeping this organization honest and upfront by urging then to comply with the laws that any legitimate charity must comply with. However, the very sloppy handling of this matter only raises new questions about the husband of the late actress.