Ex-Air America Director Charged With Fraud

A former director of Air America Radio, Evan Montvel Cohen, has been arrested in Guam after Hawaiian prosecutors charged him with fraud.

Mr. Cohen, once a resident of Brooklyn, was at the center of a scandal involving loans that the liberal network had received during the period leading up to its launch from a Bronx social-service organization, the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, which, in turn, received funding from New York City. In 2003 and 2004, a period during which Gloria Wise agency made $825,000 in payments to Air America, Mr. Cohen was director of the radio network as well as a development director for Gloria Wise.

Although other officials at Gloria Wise were charged with crimes, Mr. Cohen, 42, was not. His role in securing the transfers of the money is alleged in a report by the city's Department of Investigation. A host at Air America, Al Franken, who is no longer affiliated with the station, called Mr. Cohen a "crook" on air, according to news reports.

Mr. Cohen was arrested in Guam on Tuesday at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport upon his return from the Philippines, the Marianas Variety reported yesterday. The charges, which are out of Hawaii, involve credit card fraud.