Ziggy Marley has been promoting his upcoming Hawaii concert and stating that a portion of the ticket price would go to his charity “U.R.G.E.” There’s just one problem — the charity’s tax exempt status was revoked by the IRS two years ago.

The Hawaii attorney general on Monday sent Marley and his local concert promoters a cease and desist order, demanding that he stop “making false, deceptive” statements for his unregistered charity. The order spells out a possible $1,000 penalty, and $100 per day fee until Marley stops.

As of last week, U.R.G.E. was still telling donors on its website that it was tax exempt, said Hugh Jones, Supervising Deputy Attorney General of the Tax Division. That language was removed soon after the cease and desist order went out.

Ziggy is the second son of Bob Marley to have a run-in with Hawaii state lawyers.

Last summer, Ziggy’s younger brother, Ky-mani was fundraising in Hawaii for a charity that didn’t exist. The attorney general’s office sent him a cease and desist order [pdf].

“He had decorated a surf board that was going to be auctioned off for the ‘Love All Over Foundation’ that he was purportedly associated with. But we couldn’t find any evidence that it existed,” Jones said.

In the end, Ky-mani instead donated the money to a legit local nonprofit, Access Surf Hawaii, which helps disabled children learn how to surf.

Ziggy Marley’s case came to Hawaii authorities’ attention because of prominent newspaper ads touting that a portion of ticket sales would go toward his charity. Marley performs on March 24 at Aloha Stadium.

But IRS records show that Marley’s charity, U.R.G.E. lost its tax exempt status on May 15, 2010.

Marley’s managers were responsive to the order and agreed to remove claims that U.R.G.E. was tax exempt from the organization’s website¹, said Kathryn Kanemori, the deputy attorney general who handled the case. Marley’s managers explained that they are in the process of moving the charity from New York to California and plan to reapply for tax exempt status again soon, she said.

When Marley comes to Hawaii next month, local concert promoters told Civil Beat that a portion of ticket sales will instead support Aloha United Way.

Here’s a copy of the cease and desist order: