Coalition Against Breast Cancer a 'Sham," New York Charges

The Coalition Against Breast Cancer (CABC) is "a sham charity that has diverted nearly all of the millions of dollars raised in the name of breast cancer to its officers, directors and fund raisers," the New York attorney general says.  

In a lawsuit, attorney general Eric Schneiderman suit says the coalition falsely claims to be affiliated with major hospitals including Memorial Sloan-Kettering and says it uses “other lies and deceptions” to bilk donors who think their contributions will go to fight breast cancer.

In reality, the suit says, the coalition “spends none of its funds on eradicating breast cancer” and has no affiliation with any major hospital or research organization.

$9 million 'squandered'

The suit says that in the last five years, during which 200,000 women died from breast cancer, the coalition has “squandered and misused virtually all of the $9.1 million it raised,” spending less than 4% of its donations on any kind of charitable program.

In 2008, the suit says CABC raised $1.4 million from the public but spent only $374 for mammograms.

In the past three years, despite raising more than $4 million, the coalition has funded only 11 mammograms, the suit alleges.

“In short, Defendants have misused and wasted millions of charitable dollars that could have been used to treat and potentially save an untold number of breast cancer victims,” the suit charges.

The suit says that CABC founders Andrew Smith and Garrett Morgan launched CABC in 1995 when they were both short of cash. Smith was emerging from bankruptcy and Morgan was being investigated for his role in a fraudulent meals-on-wheels charity, Schneiderman alleges.

The suit quotes a February 2010 email from Smith to Morgan as summarizing the duo's attitude: “We are in a bad place. You need the money and so do I.”