DENVER — The founder of phony cancer charity fundraisers Boobies Rock! and Say No 2 Cancer was ordered to pay nearly $6 million and barred from ever working in charitable solicitation again, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday.
Judge Shelley Gilman ordered Adam Shryock to return $1.89 million in gross receipts and pay $4 million in civil penalties, along with the lifetime ban. The order comes nearly two years after officials accused Shryock of using donations buy himself a BMW, pay for bar tabs and other personal items. Several cancer nonprofits also accused Boobies Rock! of failing to come through with donations the company promised to share.
“When it comes to protecting Coloradans and successful case outcomes, it doesn’t get any better than this,” said Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman. “Shryock is now guilty of being a repeat charity-fraud offender who harmed legitimate charitable organizations, the public, and his employees through his tawdry and illegal tactics. It is fitting that Mr. Shryock will read about his fate while doing time for his crimes.”
Officials said Shryock hired promotional models who sold t-shirts, beer koozies, bracelets and other items with pro-breast or anti-cancer images and slogans all over the country — mostly in bars. While these tactics can be used by legitimate fundraising organizations, Shryock’s models allegedly told bar owners and customers that anywhere from 40 to 90 percent of the revenue from their purchases would go to fight cancer.
The models were said to be representing legitimate cancer charities Cancer Care and Stupid Cancer. It appears that the models believed what they were saying was true, Coffman said earlier this year.
“Mr. Shryock victimized both the young women who believed they were raising money for charity and the charities themselves by using their names without permission,” said Coffman.
In January, Shryock was sentenced to an additional six months in jail after it was found that he had violated a previous order not to engage in charity work.