Thank you for reading, my name is Jacob “Jake D!” Kosarko, & my best friend is (will never use past tense) the late, great Aaron Carter who I knew as “AC”. I am petitioning Washington, D.C. to bring forth a simple bill that covers all child actors/singers/influencers/athletes/etc. To have full protections not afforded through the California (only) Jackie Coogan Law, Coogan Act, & “Coogan Account”. 

This law for 1920’s Actor Jackie Coogan in almost 100 years has not been updated to cover the current National issues at hand with it. It’s time the law goes to the National-Federal Level with the additional protections I highlight below.

This law being California only has allowed MANY child stars to fall through the cracks living/moving/working elsewhere out of the state protections. This law having no reciprocity in other states means Coogan accounts have been notoriously unfunded or underfunded for many child stars. Most Notably recently being Jennette McCurdy, whose mother like Aaron’s spent the child’s money to excess.

This has caused devastating consequences through the years for adults who grew up in the industry which include drug use, physical abuse, self harm, mental anguish, suicide, bankruptcy in adulthood while working away your whole childhood, homelessness, overdoses, & lashing out publicly which so many child stars have done among other issues this creates.

Aaron’s story is fairly simple to start as the framework example. He worked under Lou Pearlman, Music’s biggest Ponzi schemer in history who died in jail for all his Thievery. He would steal all of his artists’ earnings before paying them scraps. Aaron’s parents being directly paid were paid good scraps which they spent fully. There was theft all around that the adults in charge of his life spent every dollar they could before Aaron turned 18.

For those who know of his brother’s career, Aaron was called the “Cash Cow” by his family, because Aaron at 10 years old was a child before Aaron’s Party was the biggest success he would achieve & already had a few years in the public eye after his self titled debut album. At that same time, Nick was 18, 1 of 5 members (6 with a Lou Pay split where he characterized himself one of the band members in his schemes) BEFORE “Millenium” came out with Backstreet Boys’ biggest successes to follow.

Lou screwed over every artist under him, Aaron being the youngest & a child the whole time had it the worst. Also being the youngest of Lou’s talents, Aaron’s parents were directly paid, but herein lies the problems:

Management/Lou Pearlman paying out took way more money than necessary (should be limited to a certain percentage), did not remove taxes before payout (because again, a child or parents paying taxes is unlikely), nor fund a Coogan account before paying out to the family (who spent all of Aaron’s earnings). 

When Aaron was 18 he had an IRS tax debt more than what he had left to him. He had the tax debt discharged due to the judge seeing that he was stolen from. Aaron being who he was (too loving & forgiving) didn’t sell anyone who failed him out. The judge seen what Aaron was doing & appreciated him for that to grant the discharge in bankruptcy. The judge knew Aaron didn’t spend his own money.

The level of what his management did at that time from his last childhood album “Another Earthquake!” To his adulthood bankruptcy cost Aaron his childhood career among all the issues the thievery of his parents also added. It was telling when Aaron publicly sued both Lou & his parents to later be blacklisted as an artist which was why his last album as a child was an unadvertised sale figure failure even with a couple radio hits.

Later on (12 years later) he resurged on his own with his final album that I toured with him on called “LØVË”.

After distancing himself from Lou after Lou’s legal conviction, he still spoke with his parents but financially stepped away to rebuild. He began to do tours on his old music while self producing new music. He also did Broadway/Off Broadway (Fantasticks), Dancing With The Stars just to name a few of his adult projects that were meant to help him rebuild. He did have quite some issues in adulthood that were due to him not being set up for any financial success. He also did not have a safety net when his career & life crashed down.

With this proposed “National Coogan-Carter Act”, I would like to simply:

Cover every child Actor/Actress/Singer/Influencer/Athlete/Performer/Social Media Star whether in Hollywood, California or Tampa, Florida (where Aaron was from), coast to coast & even international jobs that they take pay on as long as they call America home. 

Limit tax to a flat rate (10% Federal, NO state tax) for the child.

I say to make immune to state tax since they travel for work & differing tax rates can be room for extra theft by family/management the child can’t necessarily trace years later.

For the child, flat rate taxes will be taken out before pay by the management (including if family manages).

Limit the Management fees to a certain reasonable percentage (20-30%?), itemizing at all times what the fees cover (Manager/band pay/recording studio “Recoup” fees in music, Tour costs, etc.) in case the child needs recourse at a later time for false fees. Also at a flat percentage rate it would be easy to see where every dollar earned goes if something is extra inflated, makes it easy on children who worked their whole lives to learn where all their money went.

Management also puts the remaining percentage after family payout into an interest bearing “Coogan Account”.

If Family Management (as Aaron’s Parents may have felt entitled to a management cut like Lou Pearlman), they cannot “Double Dip” either, only one management form takes a payout.

Every expense shall be itemized for the child’s records to be looked over at the access date of 18 years old. If records ever fail to add up, legal recourse in lawsuits including charges of Grand Theft can be pressed to whomever fails to produce accurate monetary records.

The family allowance will be set at a certain percentage (20%?) with all remaining funds (No less than 40-50%?) going to an interest bearing “Coogan account”.

Every earning will be able to be accounted For.

Any parenthesed percentage with a question mark can be adjusted in the law’s draft but this can save a lot of future child stars no matter what their field or their location in this country a world of hurt. This has  cost quite a few young adults their lives in the last few decades for the world to see, which this law going National can remedy.

Once again, thank you for reading, if any added monetary protections can be suggested, please say so in the comments. Submitting this to all main lawmakers in Washington, D.C.