(Presidentialwire.com)- Stacey Abrams, the two-time failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate, leads a non-profit organization that may soon face criminal referrals.
The state of Washington said recently that it would refer the New Georgia Project, which Abrams leads, for prosecution if it doesn’t clarify what happened to the $18.5 million bankroll it had back in 2021. Those threats don’t seem to be motivating the charity to do anything to provide transparency into its finances, though.
Last week, Steve Hobbs, the secretary of state in Washington, ordered Abrams’ group to “immediately cease” all of its fundraising activities. Before it’s able to resume that, they must renew the state license it needs for charitable solicitations.
To receive that license, the group would have to open its book to some of its financial information that’s found on 2021 Form 990. The group was supposed to file that form with the IRS back in November.
Officials with the New Georgia Project don’t seem to be taking that very seriously. Simran Jadavji, the group’s strategic communications manager, commented to the Washington Free Beacon recently:
“[Staff], including our accountant, are just now returning to work after a much-deserved break for the holidays.”
Of course, that doesn’t explain why the New Georgia Project is delayed more than a month in filing that report.
Hobbs is obviously unconvinced by that excuse. He closed out the registration for the charity in Washington recently, and said he would refer the charity to Washington’s attorney general, as well as levy fines of $2,000 for every violation, if members of the group continue to solicit for funds in the state.
The New Georgia Project is still raising funds across the country through ActBlue, which is the online fundraising platform that it runs.
Many people have questions about what happened to all the money that the New Georgia Project had at its disposal. At the conclusion of 2020, the group claimed that it had $18.5 million in assets.
A few months ago, though, the group dismissed half of its leadership team because it didn’t have enough funds to continue supporting them.
That happened in October of 2022, only four months after the group fired the top financial officer it had after he said that he couldn’t do the job he was hired to do without breaking the law.
The New Georgia Project is a group focused on voter registration that Abrams founded back in 2013. It helped to vault Democrat Raphael Warnock to the Senate in Georgia, first in 2020 and then again this year.
The group is now facing legal threats from a few different states. As of last week, the group has had its license for charitable solicitations either in non-compliance, delinquent, closed or expired in at least 16 states, the Free Beacon reported.
The fact that the group is continuing to fundraise in those states is opening it up to the possibility of being fined and being at the center of potential criminal inquiries.
