Experts call for investigation into Stacey Abrams charity over missing $500,000 | CPT PPP Coverage

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Experts are calling for an investigation into a Stacey Abrams-founded charity over a large financial discrepancy.

The New Georgia Project, a minority-focused democracy advocacy group founded in 2013, was run by Nse Ufot, hand-picked by Abrams, until she was fired in October. The group filed its 2021 Form 990 financial disclosure three months later, when the form was two months overdue, an investigation by the Washington Free Beacon found. The group reported a $533,846 consulting payment and $67,500 grant to an obscure charity called the Black Male Initiative, run by Ufot’s brother. However, the group claims it never received any such payment.

The group provided its Internal Revenue Service filings to the outlet, which show $0 in consulting fees and just $255,000 from all sources.

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“This is something that the Internal Revenue Service should be interested in,” nonprofit attorney Alan Dye told the outlet, “particularly with the added element of the former officer possibly pocketing the money.”

He also cast suspicion upon other financial discrepancies in the records, such as the group reporting that it paid $0 in payroll taxes.

“I have no idea how a charity can have 173 paid employees and pay no payroll taxes. It’s just not possible,” said Dye. “I can’t answer that question. There should be no excuse for that.”

In 2020 filings, the group said it spent $1,914,277 on salaries for its 173 employees, but in 2021, it said that it paid $19,142,227 the previous year — a $17 million discrepancy. The group reported paying $5,671,892 for its 105 employees in 2021.

“Such a bizarre discrepancy is highly unusual and certainly cause to question the merits of the accountant,” Scott Walter, the president of the Capital Research Center, a charity watchdog group, told the Washington Free Beacon. “In a proper accounting firm, at least 2 or 3 people would have had to examine the return before sending it to the group, and no such wild error should have been missed.”

“New Georgia Project’s recent tax returns leave so many questions, it’s difficult to know where to even begin trying to understand these important documents,” Caitlin Sutherland, the executive director of the charity watchdog Americans for Public Trust, told the outlet. “Filing a fraudulent return with the IRS carries hefty penalties, and any evidence of financial malfeasance should be taken seriously.”

The New Georgia Project has played a leading role in Abrams’s attempts to turn Georgia blue by mobilizing minority voters.

“New Georgia Project is a nonpartisan effort to register, civically engage, and build power with the New Georgia Majority — the large and growing population of Black, brown, young, and other historically marginalized voters in the Peach State,” its website reads.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Alongside its affiliated New Georgia Project Action Fund, the group has raised $54.7 million since 2020.