Community Corner

News Nearby: Company To Pay $3M for Breast Cancer Fund Scam

State Attorney calls sham breast cancer charity "lowest of the low."

A fundraising firm that collected millions in donations for a bogus breast cancer charity will pay $3.1 million in restitution, according to a state judge order.

A majority of the money will be given to legitimate breast cancer charities through a fund set up by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who brought the case against Lindenhurst-based Campaign Center Inc. and its chief, West Islip resident Garrett Morgan, Newsday reports.

Schneiderman praised the ruling handed down by Suffolk Supreme Court Judge Emily Pines, calling the sham charity "the lowest of the low."

"New York fundraisers will be held accountable when they defraud the public to line their own pockets," he said in a statement.

Coalition Against Breast Cancer raised $10 million between 2005 and 2011, but only $48,000 actually went to fight cancer.

During that time, CACB did no research or public education, and supported mammograms for only 40 women, with the leaders keeping up to 85 percent of the money for themselves, Schneiderman said.

The charity was shut down in April and its former directors -- Garrett, treasurer Andrew Smith, director of development Debra Koppleman and president Patricia Scott -- agreed to pay $1.6 million in restitution and are banned from running a charity in New York State.


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