President-elect Joe Biden’s cancer charity spent the majority of its money on staff payroll and gave none to research, report says.
First reported by The New York Post, tax filings viewed by DailyMail.com showed that The Biden Cancer Initiative amassed $4,809,619 in contributions, but spent $3,070,301 on salaries.
Joe and Jill Biden founded The Biden Cancer Initiative in 2017 to help find a cure and ‘solutions to accelerate progress in cancer prevention.’
But it appeared no grants were given out during its first two years of operation.
Joe and Jill Biden founded The Biden Cancer Initiative in 2017 to help find a cure and ‘solutions to accelerate progress in cancer prevention’
Gregory Simon, The Biden Cancer Initiative president and former Pfizer executive, reportedly received $429,850 during the 2018 fiscal year, per filings viewed by DailyMail.com
Simon, who spearheaded the Obama administrations cancer task force, was paid nearly double his 2017 earnings from $224,539.
Danielle Carnival, the former chief of staff of Obama’s Cancer Moonshot Task Force, was paid $258,207 in 2018.
The Director of Communications, the Director of Science Policy and Director of Engagement all received six figure salaries as well.
The Biden Cancer Initiave was created after Joe Biden’s oldest son, Beau Biden (left), who died after a brain cancer diagnosis
The tax filings showed that The Biden Cancer Initiative spent $56,738 on conferences and 59,356 on travel expenses in the 2017 tax filings
Those numbers rose the next year with conference costs skyrocketing to a staggering $742,953 for conferences and $97,149 on travel.
The boxes indicating grant distributions remained blank, suggesting no money was put forth by the charity.
Charity president Gregory Simon (left) received $429,850 during the 2018 fisca year, while Danielle Carnival (right), the former chief of staff of Obama’s Cancer Moonshot Task Force, was paid $258,207
The Biden Cancer Initiative wascreated after Joe’s oldest son, Beau Biden, died in 2015 after suffering from a brain cancer diagnosis.
Biden led Obama’s cancer task force while serving as vice president. After leaving office 2017, the Biden Cancer Initiative continued in its quest to find cancer treatments.
‘The Biden Cancer Initiative will develop and drive implementation of solutions to accelerate progress in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, research and care, and to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes,’ said a press release from that year.
The Board of Directors included NFL Sideline reporter Erin Andrews and Jimmy ‘Taboo’ Gomez, a cancer survivor and musician from Black Eyed Peas.
The Biden Cancer Initiative suspended operations in July 2019 as Joe Biden became further entrenched in the contentious 2020 election battle.
Pictured: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden listens as his wife Dr. Jill Biden speaks during a drive-in campaign rally at Bucks County Community College on October 24, 2020 in Bristol, Pennsylvania
‘Today, we are suspending activities given our unique circumstances. We remain personally committed to the cause, but at this time will have to pause efforts,’ Simon told the Associated Press at that time.
‘We tried to power through but it became increasingly difficult to get the traction we needed to complete our mission.’
The Biden Cancer Initiative has taken in several million dollars in direct funding for its operations, but the bulk of the money supporting the partnerships it promotes came in the form of indirect pledges.
That money did not go directly to the nonprofit but instead has been managed by the participating companies and organizations to fund their research and work. Biden’s group has used its platform and Biden’s appearances to promote the partnerships.