Joe Biden's Defunct Cancer Charity Spent 65% On Staff, Paid Millions to Executives As It Closed

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
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Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden wears a face mask to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus as he and Jill Biden depart after placing a wreath at the Delaware Memorial Bridge Veterans Memorial Park, Monday, May 25, 2020, in New Castle, Del. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
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Over the course of President Trump’s tenure, we’ve had many years of hand wringing from the mainstream media over his supposed mishandling of his foundation. To the extent that mistakes were made, that’s fair to criticize. But if we are going to do it for Trump, then shouldn’t Joe Biden be held to the same standard? I’m thinking so.

Enter his now defunct cancer “charity.” It turns out that it had some issues, including a very questionable budget that included paying millions to executives before closing the doors suddenly.

The Biden Cancer Initiative, the nonprofit that former Vice President Joe Biden established two years ago after leaving the White House, spent nearly two-thirds of its budget on staff compensation.

The Biden Cancer Initiative, a nonprofit to support cancer prevention and research, doled out high salaries to executives, according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon. The organization’s president, Greg Simon, was paid $224,539 in 2017 and $429,850 in 2018.

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In the end, Biden’s charity spent little to battle cancer and a whole lot on staff salaries. In that way, it resembles the Clinton Foundation, which routinely spent more on jet setting its namesakes around the world than on fighting poverty. In fact, 65% of the budget went to staff compensation.

Biden Cancer Initiative salaries made up nearly 65% of its total expenditures. The organization raised and spent $4.8 million over the two years it was in operation, and more than $3 million of that amount went to salaries, compensation, and benefits, according to 2017 and 2018 tax forms. The Biden Cancer Initiative spent $1.7 million on other expenses, including $740,000 for conferences, conventions, and meetings.

If you do the math, that’s well over 95% of the “charity’s” spending going to things other than cancer research or cancer related causes. They spent 65% of their money on staff and then spent almost all the rest on conferences and conventions, which usually serve as a way to raise money. At that point, it’s basically just a perpetual scam. While their mission stated they existed to develop “solutions” and drive implementation of cancer prevention and treatments, I’m not seeing any evidence they ever spent a dime on that goal.

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What this charity actually appears to be was an influence peddling operation that targeted healthcare companies. Many of the companies Biden took money from and would then tout had ongoing connections to the federal government. The staff positions themselves were filled with former Obama officials and just months after the Bidens left the board, it shuttered.

To be frank, if this were Trump’s charity, it’d be a major scandal and The New York Times would have already released an 5,000 word investigative piece on it. Biden has gotten essentially no questions about how the charity ran though, nor its budget problems. It’s probably about time he starts getting some.

 

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