'National Children's Leukemia Foundation' Was Scam Run From Brooklyn Basement: AG

Zvi Shor, a 64-year-old Brooklyn resident, has been running a fake charity called the National Children’s Leukemia Foundation (NCLF) from his Bergen Beach basement for the past two decades, claims New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman.

Less than one percent of the nearly $10 million Shor collected between 2009 and 2013 went to help children with cancer, says Schneiderman.

So he’s asking the Kings County Supreme Court to shut down the foundation immediately, and is suing Shor and his team for deceiving donors and misusing their money.

In an investigation of NCLF’s activities, the Attorney General’s Charities Bureau found no evidence that programs advertised on the foundation’s website and brochures were running in real life.

Instead, the NCLF was found to be:

• Repeatedly lying about having a bone marrow registry, an umbilical cord blood banking program, and its own cancer research center; and telling donors it had filed a patent application for a new lifesaving treatment for leukemia when it had not;
• Lying when it told potential donors that funds raised would be used to “fulfill wishes of terminally sick children,” including sending these children to Disney World, when NCLF had not done so in years;
• Making false official filings, including annual financial filings submitted to the Attorney General’s Office, by reporting individuals as directors of the organization without their knowledge, and falsely reporting a large portion of fundraising expenses as public education about cancer;
• Filing false audit reports, when no audits were in fact conducted.

Also named in the lawsuit as Shor’s accomplices are his son, Shlomo Shor, and his alleged puppet employees, Yehuda Gutwein and Shlomo Donn.

“Nothing is more shameful than pocketing millions of dollars donated by good-hearted people who just wanted to help children afflicted with a terminal illness,” says Schneiderman in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

The foundation’s website has been taken down. But on its Facebook page, it advertises itself as “one of the leading non-501c(3) organizations in the battle against leukemia and cancer in children and adults,” and claims:

The mission of the NCLF is to provide the cure for cancer and other life-threatening diseases throughout the world, and to insure that all persons, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status or country of residence, have access to life-saving medical care.

The NCLF supports medical research and direct patient care programs that ease the financial, social and psychological burdens of families with a diagnosis of cancer or other serious blood disorders. Through our hotline, 1-800-GIVE-HOPE (800-448-3467), we offer comprehensive information to any caller, and provide referrals for initial testing, physicians, hospital admissions, and treatment options.