In his famous 1930 crime novel The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett wrote, “The gaudier the patter, the cheaper the crook.” He never got a telephone cold-call asking for money from American Breast Cancer Coalition PAC, but he surely would have recognized the pitch.

I, on the other hand, have been called by sweet-talking representatives of this elusive East Coast-based organization any number of times over the past 15 months at the New To Las Vegas world headquarters. They pleaded for financial aid to fight this awful illness by backing sympathetic political candidates (PAC means political action committee) who will vote to fund treatments. Hundreds of thousands of other folks around the country likely have received these calls, too.

Now I’m no Sam Spade. He was Hammett’s legendary gumshoe, memorably played by Humphrey Bogart in the 1941 movie of the same name about fortune-hunters and killers fighting over an ancient object supposedly encrusted in jewels and made of solid gold. But I know how to look up stuff, like ABCC-PAC’s latest filed-with-the-IRS-under-penalty-of-perjury financial report, for the half-year ending December 31, 2023.

Amount of donation money raised nationally: $1.1 million.

Amount of money spent in political contributions to sympathetic candidates: Zero.

That’s right. Zip. Zilch. Goose eggs across the board. You spent far more on your latest Starbucks latte.

In addition, in Nevada, where I live, the way ABCC-PAC operates is illegal under state law, although toothless regulators here do absolutely nothing about it. The m.o. of these faux charities, as I call PACs that present like charities but aren’t, ought to be illegal everywhere, and enforced.

Do I have your attention? I do? Then kindly read on.

I am a relatively frequent recipient of calls on behalf of American Breast Cancer Coalition PAC. Every one of the perhaps half-dozen I received since the start of 2023 was a robocall made by a computer-generated voice using what is known as soundboard technology. Here is the text of a pitch I received in November:

Hi. It’s Cathy Sanders with the American Breast Cancer Coalition PAC. We’re having our fund drive because, tragically, over 100 women die every day from this deadly disease, many because their breast cancer was not caught in time. Now our hope is for fast-track approval of life-saving tests and medicine for women who cannot afford it, and to elect lawmakers who support these goals. Now, when you receive your donation return envelope can we count on you to return a small donation for the drive?

Sometimes the caller has been “Cathy” (I’m guessing at the spelling). Other times it has been a “Mary” or a “Michelle” voicing essentially the same script. The message always sounds like it’s coming from a concerned charity.

After getting another “Michelle” call earlier this month, I decided to see if ABCC-PAC had cleaned up its act. As required by law, the PAC makes public filings with the Internal Revenue Service. I pulled the one for the second half of 2023, and added the data to the other 15 periodic filings ABCC-PAC has made since its announced beginning on May 14, 2019.

The big picture is not unlike that famous Edvard Munch painting “The Scream.” Here’s my art review.

From inception ABCC-PAC received $7.7 million from Mom and Pop contributors in at least 40 states (including Nevada) plus the District of Columbia. The names and addresses of the unwary suckers dupes donors are listed in the filings. I invite charity regulators and law enforcement types around the country to look for constituents and then help them.

Roughly the same amount was spent by ABCC-PAC for the following enumerated purposes: “fundraising,” “donor management,” “database services,” “direct mail services,” “postage,” “data entry,” “payroll,” “technology and IT,” “merchant processing,” “software provider,” “donor database management,” “donor outreach,” “vendor management,” “administrative consulting” and “accounting.”

What I didn’t see were significant expenditures for “political contributions” or “political activity,” which is what PACs are supposed to be about. About all I saw along that line was about $29,000 in 2022 for “voter advocacy and outreach,” an immaterial amount in the grand scheme of things. Of course, would-be donors, even if they ask, are not told during the call about these terrible financial efficiencies before being pressured to make a gift.

ABCC-PAC is not sitting on some kind of a giant war chest waiting to be opened during the big ongoing 2024 political season. Based on revenue and expenses listed in its filings, which include IRS 990 tax returns for exempt organization, ABCC-PAC likely had pretty close to zero in the bank on December 31, 2023.

More than 80% of the money coming in went right out to just five vendors, who, judging from other filings, do work for other faux charities as well. I imagine some of them have managed to slip compensation to one Bill Davis, the only person listed in public filings as an ABCC-PAC official or employee

Who he? I have no idea. But it was Davis who as treasurer, custodian of records and sole employee willed ABCC-PAC into existence with a public filing at the IRS in 2019. Here was his noble mission submitted under oath: “To advocate for the collective needs of people affected by breast cancer by holding elected officials accountable for their votes and actions, and push for the election of candidates who will champion our priority issues, and to accept contributions and make expenditures for political activity.”

Well, ABCC-PAC sure does accept contributions. Not so sure about the other stated goals. As ABCC-PAC says in the smallest-possible type on its website, breastcancerpac.org, “​A large portion of the donations given to our organization are used to help offset the costs associated with fundraising.”

Uh, yes.

Where is ABCC-PAC located? I’m not sure of that, either. Davis’s original filing nearly five years ago listed the business address as what is probably a mail drop in a high-rise building on I St. NW in Washington, D.C. When I put that very question a couple weeks ago to “Michelle” (I generally use quotes when referencing interactions with non-humans), she gave me an address on 50th St. NW in Washington. D.C.. From Google Maps, that seems to be a mail drop in a small office building. But the ABCC-PAC website to which “Michelle” referred me lists a “new address” 240 miles away on Electric Rd. in Roanoke, Va. That, too, seems to be a mail drop, but in a much larger Staples store.

Here in Nevada, ABCC-PAC should be running afoul of a Nevada law enacted in 2021 prohibiting fundraisers, including PACs, from soliciting in the state for, among other causes, “any … public health … purpose” without first registering with the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office (SOSO) and making financial filings. There is no registration or filing from ABCC-PAC. SOSO has the power to issue cease-and-desist orders and levy civil financial penalties. But it never has done so, against ABCC-PAC or any of the dozens of faux charities likely making hundreds of thousands of similar calls a year to my fellow Nevadans. Also missing in action is the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, which claims consumer protection among its various missions.

How bright are Bill Davis and his ABCC-PAC? Well, they keep calling me even though I already have disparaged them several times in this space (click here and click here). That’s why ABCC-PAC has been a candidate for my running list of America’s Stupidest Charities. It’s a low bar: fundraisers that call me asking for money despite a earlier nasty post by me. Can it get any dumber in that line of work? The full list is nearby, with links to the posts.

A few days ago I sent an email to Davis and ABCC-PAC seeking comment on many of the issues I raised above. I’ll update this if I hear back. Based on my past experience, I’m far more likely to hear first from “Cathy,” “Mary” or “Michelle.”

By the end, it turned out in the book and movie that the Maltese Falcon was a lead fake, nothing but big talk. Sort of like ABCC-PAC.

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