Scam Sham Breast Cancer Charity

by Gary Snyder
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a lawsuit to shut down what he dubbed a “sham charity” in St. James that allegedly raised $9.1 million in the past five years to fight breast cancer but instead spent more than 95 percent of the money on staff perks.
Schneiderman alleges the Coalition Against Breast Cancer used the money to pay exorbitant fundraiser fees, unjustified salaries and benefits packages, and for personal goods like cell phones and TV services. He filed the lawsuit in Suffolk County court. The lawsuit alleges the group, its directors—Andrew Smith, Debra Koppelman and Patricia Scott—as well as Campaign Center and its owner, Garrett Morgan, engaged in a scheme to defraud. Smith and Koppelman paid themselves more than $550,000 in combined salaries for 2005 through 2009, in addition to a pension and $155,000 in loans to themselves. In 2008, the group raised more than $1.4 million and spent only $374 on mammograms and over the past three years it took in more than $4 million but funded mammograms for only 11 women.









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