EXCLUSIVE: Ethics Watchdog Files IRS Complaint Against Stacey Abrams’ Nonprofits

A prominent ethics watchdog has filed an IRS complaint against two organizations affiliated with failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, The Daily Wire has learned.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a nonprofit that promotes ethics and transparency in government, filed the complaint against the New Georgia Project (NGP) and its lobbying arm, the New Georgia Project Action Fund (NGPAF). Abrams founded NGP, which was meant to register new voters, in 2013, when she was still in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Abrams left the organization in 2017, leaving it to Raphael Warnock, who left when he was elected to the United States Senate.

Because of its 501(c)(3) status, NGP is “absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office,” according to the IRS. The NGPAF, as a 501(c)(4), must not engage in political activity as its primary activity and must be “operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare,” which it can do by “promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the people of the community,” according to IRS statute.

“Federal law is very clear and strict in that when an organization receives the benefits of nonprofit status, those running it are absolutely prohibited from using it as a political campaign organization,” said FACT Executive Director Kendra Arnold. “This is a straightforward case because the nonprofits admitted to raising and spending millions of dollars for campaigns.”

FACT wrote in its complaint letter to the outgoing IRS commissioner that a recent case before the Georgia State Ethics Commission established that NGP and its lobbying arm engaged in campaign activity on behalf of Abrams during her failed 2018 gubernatorial bid, as well as other candidates.

“[A]dvocating for Representative Stacey Abrams’ election for Governor of the State of Georgia during the primary and general election, also with Sarah Riggs-Amico, John Barrow, and Charlie Bailey and other state wide candidates for public office during the general election,” case documents say, according to FACT. “These expenditures included, but were not limited to canvassing activities, literature expressly advocating for the election of candidates, social media engagement, and operating field offices with paid staff where those electioneering activities were organized.”

The Georgia State Ethics Commission found that NGP and NGPAF violated multiple state laws, and the organizations admitted to these violations. The committee found that the organizations failed to disclose more than $4 million in campaign contributions and another $3 million in expenditures during the 2018 election cycle.

The organizations agreed to pay a $300,000 fine for those violations, NBC News reported in mid-January.

Following the fine, dozens of people have been laid off from the organizations, Fox News reported.

Now, FACT wants an IRS investigation into the organizations.

“The illegal nature of this extensive activity also demonstrates that New Georgia Project Action Fund’s primary purpose was political activity,” the organization wrote in its complaint. “As established in the State Ethics case, the groups are not acting in accordance with federal law and we respectfully request the IRS investigate this matter fully and, if appropriate, revoke the organizations’ status as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) and (4) organizations and impose financial penalties.”

NGP did not immediately respond to a Daily Wire inquiry.

READ THE FULL FACT LETTER HERE