Cite as: 538 U. S. 600 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
N. E. 2d, at 291. Telemarketing Associates and Armet were retained by VietNow National Headquarters, a charitable nonprofit corporation, to solicit donations to aid Vietnam veterans. Id., at 348, 763 N. E. 2d, at 291. In this opinion, we generally refer to respondents, collectively, as "Telemarketers."
The contracts between the charity, VietNow, and the fund-raisers, Telemarketers, provided that Telemarketers would retain 85 percent of the gross receipts from donors within Illinois, leaving 15 percent for VietNow. Ibid. Under the agreements, donor lists developed by Telemarketers would remain in their "sole and exclusive" control. App. 24, 93-94, 102, ¶ 65. Telemarketers also brokered contracts on behalf of VietNow with out-of-state fundraisers; under those contracts, out-of-state fundraisers retained between 70 percent and 80 percent of donated funds, Telemarketers received between 10 percent and 20 percent as a finder's fee, and Viet-Now received 10 percent. 198 Ill. 2d, at 348, 763 N. E. 2d, at 291. Between July 1987 and the end of 1995, Telemarketers collected approximately $7.1 million, keeping slightly more than $6 million for themselves, and leaving approximately $1.1 million for the charity. Ibid.1
In 1991, the Illinois Attorney General filed a complaint against Telemarketers in state court. Id., at 348-350, 763 N. E. 2d, at 291-292.2 The complaint asserted common-law and statutory claims for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. Ibid. It alleged, inter alia, that the 85 percent fee for which Telemarketers contracted was "excessive" and "not justified
1 The petition for certiorari further alleges that, of the money raised by Telemarketers, VietNow in the end spent only about 3 percent to provide charitable services to veterans. Pet. for Cert. 2, and n. 1; see IRS Form 990, filed by VietNow in 2000, available at http://167.10.5.131/Ct0601_0700/ 0652/1M11INDV.PDF (as visited Apr. 10, 2003) (available in Clerk of Court's case file).
2 References to the complaint in this opinion include all amendments to that pleading.
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