Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond sues a sham cancer charity for deceiving donors who offered financial support to women battling cancer.

 

 Oklahoma joins nine other states in a complaint filed Monday in federal court. The suit alleges that Cancer Recovery Foundation International, also known as Women’s Cancer Fund, and its operator, Gregory B. Anderson, collected more than $18 million from donors between 2017 and 2022. The organization claimed it would use the donations to help women undergoing treatment for cancer pay for their families’ basic needs. Instead, the complaint charges, only about one cent of every dollar went to provide support, while the overwhelming majority went to pay for-profit fundraisers and Anderson.

 

While Women’s Cancer Fund collected $18 million from tens of thousands of donors, it only spent $194,809 on financial support to cancer patients. At the same time, it paid Anderson $775,139 – nearly four times as much as Women’s Cancer Fund collectively gave to all the cancer patients it supported.

 

Consumers looking for information on how to donate safely and avoid charity scams can learn more at ftc.gov