Shameless TikTok Cancer Scammer Madison ‘Maddie’ Russo Pleads Guilty
Maddie Russo told donors she had leukemia and pancreatic cancer.
Scott County
An Iowa woman who made national headlines when her claims of having leukemia and pancreatic cancer were exposed as a lie has pleaded guilty to fleecing soft-hearted donors out of $37,000. Twenty-year-old Maddie Russo’s GoFundMe and TikTok videos were featured in local media and she spoke at St. Ambrose University and The National Pancreatic Foundation, WQAD reported. But her supposed battle with cancer, which she said included a football-sized tumor on her spine, was a ruse, prosecutors said.
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