SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - Two nationwide sham cancer charities were shut down yesterday and their leader is banned from profiting from any charity fundraising in the future.
Audio recordings of solicitations in Iowa by the Cancer Fund of America reveal professional fundraisers claiming one hundred percent of the money would help cancer patients.
Solicitors believed they were pitching to potential Iowa donors but the calls were answered and recorded by a Consumer Protection Division employee. Callers claimed that donations would help cancer patients with hospice care or medical supplies.
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says C-F-A and Cancer Support Services spent the majority of donations on their operators, families and friends, and fundraisers.
Jackley says the order imposes a judgement against CFA, CSS and James Reynolds Sr. of almost $76 million, the amount consumers donated between 2008 and 2012.
The settlement concludes the largest joint enforcement action ever taken by the Federal Trade Commission and state charity regulators