
'Sham' cancer charities raised $187M, used almost none on patients, suit - taivare
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cancer-charities-lawsuit-20150519-story.html#page=1
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sytelus
So these scammers are going to get out of it with just a little scratch after
decades of doing this and making 100s of millions:

 _The younger Reynolds’ settlement will be suspended when he pays $75,000, the
FTC says, and Perkins’ settlement will be suspended entirely “based on her
inability to pay,” unless authorities discover they lied about their assets.
Effler’s will be suspended after he pays $60,000._

Looks like all those cancer walks and runs are pretty good venues for these
scammers to get piece of action. Normally, when you are donating you will look
up charity's ratings but in those events people rarely look them up because
marketing is so strong that everything looks in order. Even $100 a piece for
few hundred people every week in some city can rack up large sums in well
advertized events. They now even have "professional fundraiser" which means
this must be a booming business already and FTC has barely scratched the
surface.

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zaccus
This is going to sound evil, but I don't really understand the point of cancer
charities.

I thought the reason why medical care costs so much was because of all the R&D
that goes into it. It seems ridiculous that with all the money being poured
into the industry, cancer research still needs charity support. The whole
thing seems like a feel-good scam to me.

I would gladly donate to a charity that helps poor people pay for cancer
treatment that their insurance doesn't cover. But I find it hard to believe
that the actual R&D is underfunded.

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taivare
Don't give up hope or charity .. Cuba just came up with a very low price
vaccine for lung cancer .. [https://t.co/ctgnY0mHVC](https://t.co/ctgnY0mHVC)
and even top medical authorities in the U.S. concede the discovery is
promising.

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alejohausner
This may sound harsh, but, given the feeble success of _any_ cancer treatment,
why should people give money to a lost cause like cancer research? So,
donations to all cancer charities should be avoided.

~~~
cmdrfred
Dollar for dollar food, water and education in the 3rd world has to have the
greatest impact on human suffering, but they are likely a different color than
you so it seems some would rather save some drug company R and D money.

~~~
JoshuaDavid
> Dollar for dollar food, water and education in the 3rd world has to have the
> greatest impact on human suffering

Medicine in the 3rd world actually seems to outperform any of those[1]. On the
other hand, it's medicine of the "let's take the well-known cures and
distribute them to people who don't have them" variety, not the "let's
research a cure for this rare but heartbreaking disease in children" variety.

[1] [http://www.givewell.org/charities/top-
charities](http://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities)

~~~
cmdrfred
I stand corrected, all four in concert is ideal.

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rip747
this is why I personally feel we should have harsher and stricter law
concerning what is considered a non-for-profit and also all their financials
should be made public in an easy to digest manner that public can keep an eye
on.

I don't get how its taken this long to see what these companies were spending
their donations on and what they were paying out. Why can't this information
be on a government website that lists this information in a grid so someone
like me, who isn't an accountant by any means, can view and understand the
information.

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brickmort
> upsetting for _upstanding_ charities like Susan G Komen.

err......

~~~
bdcravens
Yes, they have a very good reputation .... for suing charities that dare to
use "... for the cure"

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/komen-foundation-
ch...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/komen-foundation-charities-
cure_n_793176.html)

[http://www.awesomecancersurvivor.com/2012/10/lawsuits-for-
th...](http://www.awesomecancersurvivor.com/2012/10/lawsuits-for-the-cure-
from-the-archives.html)

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M8
Keep donating. It's not like modern countries tax people.

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melling
What are the best research cancer charities?

~~~
chdir
See ratings here:

[http://www.charitynavigator.org/](http://www.charitynavigator.org/)

[https://www.charitywatch.org/home](https://www.charitywatch.org/home)

