Several "sham" cancer charities run by extended members of the same family spent more than $187 million collected in donations on personal luxuries, CNN reported. The organizations are now the subject of a civil suit brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of all 50 states.

Jessica Rich, who heads the commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, told the news channel that the charities spent about 97 percent of what they received on private fundraisers and on themselves. Only 3 percent went to help actual cancer patients, she added.

"Donated funds were used to pay for vehicles, personal consumer goods, college tuition, gym memberships, Jet Ski outings, dating website subscriptions, luxury cruises, and tickets to concerts and professional sporting events," the complaint detailed.

The charities allegedly also used the donated cash to pay for trips to Disney World, meals at Hooters and purchases at Victoria's Secret, the New York Post enumerated.

"The defendants' egregious scheme effectively deprived legitimate cancer charities and cancer patients of much-needed funds and support," Rich told the newspaper.

The organizations -- the Breast Cancer Society; the Children's Cancer Fund of America; Cancer Support Services; the Cancer Fund of America; and Cancer Support Services -- hired telemarketers to solicit $20 donations from people across the United States, Fox News noted. They told prospective donors that their funds would help pay for patients' pain medication, transportation to chemotherapy visits and hospice care.

Settlement agreements have already been reached with three of the groups, but litigation is ongoing with the Cancer Fund of America and Cancer Support Services, according to the news channel. Refunds, however, are unlikely, the FTC noted.

"The money is mostly gone," Rich said on Tuesday.

In addition to the charities themselves, the complaint names as defendants three family members -- James Reynolds, Sr.; James Reynolds II; and Rose Perkins -- as well as an associate, Kyle Effler, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"Our board of directors has decided that it does not help those who we seek to serve ... for us to engage in a highly publicized, expensive, and distracting legal battle around our fundraising practices," the Breast Cancer Society said in a statement attributed to Reynolds II.