Couple in fake charity case must pay $1.5M

A Great Neck couple who pleaded guilty to concocting a phony breast cancer charity to fund their extravagant lifestyle was ordered Monday to pay $1.5 million to the state attorney general to settle the civil case against them.

The money collected from David and Mindy Winston, both 55, will be directed toward legitimate breast cancer charities. Victims had thought they were donating to research and treatment for the disease, when they were actually funding everything from the Winstons' dinners at Peter Luger's Steakhouse to their daughter's sorority dues, lawyers in the case said.

The Winstons' three children, Rachel, 29, Joshua, 26, and Rebecca, 21, who prosecutors said helped set up the sham nonprofit organization called the Coalition for Breast Cancer Cures, will each pay $25,000, according to the judgment.

"Breast cancer has touched thousands of families throughout Long Island and the state, and any effort to exploit New Yorkers' sympathies and generosity will not be tolerated," Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in an email.

In court, State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria chided the Winstons for failing as parents and citizens. "This is the worst situation this court has dealt with," he said.

David Winston's lawyer, Robert DelGiorno of Great Neck, declined to comment on the settlement. Mindy Winston's lawyer, Joseph Conway of Mineola, said she is "glad to have ended the litigation and put this behind her."

In August, David Winston pleaded guilty to first-degree scheme to defraud and third-degree grand larceny related to the operation of Coalition for Breast Cancer Cures Inc. and a for-profit fundraising firm called The Resource Center, prosecutors said.

District Court Judge Francis Ricigliano is expected to sentence him to 2 to 6 years in prison Oct. 21.

Mindy Winston pleaded guilty to first-degree falsifying business records for a bank account for the fake charity. Under her plea deal she will receive 5 years' probation.

The Winstons' children were not charged criminally.

According to the civil suit, the Winstons spent $364,000 on breast cancer services and research programs even though they collected $9.1 million. Prosecutors said the Winstons spent at least $3,700 in hotel bills and airfare to places like Amsterdam and Las Vegas, $5,000 in restaurant tabs, and $7,700 at stores including Louis Vuitton, Victoria's Secret, Home Depot, Best Buy and Target.