A top instructor at a Northwest Portland fitness studio has been suspended for allegedly embezzling funds meant for local charities.
For years, Ryan Tong, aka “Coach RyRy” of Orangetheory Fitness Slabtown, has been collecting donations for local nonprofits through Venmo during his special 90-minute Sunday charity classes. Tong said the donations will be matched by local companies such as Nike and Adidas.
But several nonprofits selected by studio members say: WW They are not receiving cash. Rose Heaven and Period executives confirmed they had not received any funds from Tan for charity events held at Orangetheory in recent years.
It is not clear how much money is unaccounted for. Tong has raised more than $500,000 for charity since opening the studio in May 2018, according to a January post on the studio’s Instagram account.
Not all of that money went through the ton. The studio also offered charity event attendees the option to donate directly to the charity through her QR code, which linked to the charity’s website.
Still, many participants sent money directly to Tong, 41, via Venmo, with the hope that the money would later be matched by companies and donated to nonprofit organizations. Tong’s Venmo account is public, and his more than 100 transactions over the past year are listed with captions indicating they were for donations.
“It was so brazen that it was hard to realize that something untoward was going on,” said studio member Daniel Borgen. “Looking back, everyone was like, ‘What were we thinking?’
Earlier this year, Bogen started asking questions. He serves on the board of the Cascade AIDS Project, one of the nonprofit organizations from which studio members receive donations. When Bogen learned that the nonprofit organization was not receiving donations from Tong Inc. or Orangetheory, she started asking around. Eight other nonprofits are also losing funding, he said.
Mr. Bogen confronted Mr. Tong, who said in an email that the donations should have been made through Nike. So Bogen went to Nike, which said it would only match donations from employees.Nike confirmed this via email. WW, He said he was conducting an independent investigation into the matter.
On April 15, Bogen reported the missing money to the police. A PPB spokesperson said the case remains open, but a detective has not yet been assigned to investigate.
ton won’t come back WWThis is your phone. The regional manager said in a statement that Tan has been suspended without pay and that the team is “cooperating fully with law enforcement.” The last class “RyRy” taught at Slabtown Orange Theory was April 14, according to the studio’s online calendar.
“Once the investigation is complete, we will focus on making the situation right for our affected members,” said Regional Manager Jordan Thomas.
Meanwhile, it’s not clear who has the money.
Katie O’Brien, executive director of Rose Haven, a Women’s Day shelter, said she was contacted last March by a donor who offered to donate $1,000 to Tong in hopes of donating to the nonprofit. said. She “feels like it was stolen,” O’Brien said. “It’s been 15 months. This is not the right way to play the game.”
Dara Wilk, development director for PERIOD, which distributes free menstrual products, said the organization did not receive any money from Tong for charity events held in 2022 and 2023. Tong sent her $537 using Venmo for the 2021 event.”Ask for it,” she says. WW.
In 2005, Tong was convicted of first-degree theft in Clackamas County, sentenced to two years’ probation, and ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution to Safeway.
A spokeswoman for the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office said records detailing the crime were not immediately available because the case is so old, but Tong may have been working at a grocery store at the time. Said it was expensive. One of the conditions of Mr. Tong’s probation was that he not seek employment that involved handling money.
