'Three Cups of Tea' Publisher to Review Fraud Charges

Mortenson's publisher says it wants to go over "60 Minutes" charges with him.

ByABC News
April 18, 2011, 5:50 PM

April 18, 2011— -- The publisher of "Three Cups of Tea" said today it wants to review "60 Minutes'" allegations that author Greg Mortenson fabricated parts of the best-selling memoir and overstated his humanitarian achievements.

A segment of the "60 Minutes news program that aired Sunday reported that a key section of the book -- how Mortenson got lost while hiking in Pakistan and stumbled upon the village of Korphe, where he was taken in and cared for by the villagers -- is a fabrication.

The central conceit of "Three Cups of Tea" is that Mortenson's time with the villagers inspired him to return to the region to build a school for girls, setting him off on a campaign to build dozens of schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"60 Minutes" also reported in the segment that the Central Asian Institute, Mortenson's charitable organization, had taken credit for building schools that didn't actually exist or were built by others, and that it spent more money on self-promotion than on humanitarian efforts.

Viking Books, Mortenson's publisher, seemed to support him in a short statement released today but also said it would investigate the claims made in the "60 Minutes" report.

"Greg Mortenson's work as a humanitarian in Afghanistan and Pakistan has provided tens of thousands of children with an education," the statement said. "'60 Minutes' is a serious news organization and in the wake of their report, Viking plans to carefully review the materials with the author."

Mortenson defended himself Sunday in an email to supporters before the "60 Minutes" segment aired, calling the report that criticized his memoir and accused him of financial improprieties "a distorted picture using inaccurate information.

"As those of you who know me and have supported my work over the years will recognize, the story being framed by '60 Minutes' to air in a few hours today -- as far as we can tell -- paints a distorted picture using inaccurate information, innuendo and a microscopic focus on one year's (2009) IRS 990 financial, and a few points in the book 'Three Cups of Tea' that occurred almost 18 years ago," Mortenson wrote in the email today.