A Georgia voter registration group founded by embattled Democrat activist Stacey Abrams and once run by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is under scrutiny for financial corruption.
The New Georgia Project (NGP) was created to flip the once-reliably Republican state, but it is under an internal investigation into financial mismanagement, according to one of the board's Co-chairmen Frank Wilson.
The revelations come amid a six-month Politico investigative report examining the sudden departure of eight-year Director Nsé Ufot, who is being sought by the group to repay thousands in "non-work-related" reimbursements.
Ufot called the allegations of impropriety "a f**king lie," according to Politico.
Former employees noted the flooding of funding without proper management led to the issues being alleged.
The NGP and NGPAF business boomed in the 2020 election cycle, going from raising a combined $3.4 million in 2019 to $36.4 million in 2020.
After helping Biden wrest Georgia from former President Donald Trump and take both Senate seats, the groups 2021 fundraising dipped to $16.1 million – still a large amount by less than half the total of the 2020 operation.
The Politico discovered allegations, citing financial disclosures, internal documents, and former staffer interviews, include improper expense tracking on prepaid to employees on Visa gift cards and failing to account for salary advances, according to the report.
NGP, a is under a Georgia ethics investigation for potential violations of political activity by nonprofits and an IRS dispute over payroll taxes, which new CEO Kendra Davenport Cotton told Politico has been settled.
Georgia restricts 501(c)3 groups like NGP from engaging in politics, according to the report.
"We're going to do a forensic look at our records," Wilson, chair of the New Georgia Project Action Fund (NGPAF), the 501(c)4 subsidiary of NGP, told Politico. "We'll start at the beginning, and just lay it out, clean it up and redirect as necessary.
"So we'll be in a position where anybody who will come — be it authorities, be it media, be it whomever — we will not be concerned about who looks at our records because we'll have all our I's dotted and T's crossed.
"So I'm comfortable with that, you know, and I'll almost welcome it."
Abrams created NGP in 2014 but she has not been involved in the group since she ran for governor in 2017 and lost. She lost again in 2021. And Republicans note she refused to concede her 2017 loss.
Warnock's ties to NGP began in 2017 when it officially registered as a 501(c)3. He left when he ran for Senate in 2020, a seat he won in the Jan. 5, 2021, special election.
Warnock denied knowledge of NGP impropriety in a brief Senate subway interview with Politico: "Not at all."
Staffers interviewed by Politico noted the brazen confidence amid alleged mismanagement at the height of recent elections' voter registration drives.
"I went there all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but I'm disillusioned now," a former employee told Politico. "I got the assumption that it was driven by ego after the 2020 elections. That there was this: 'We can do anything we want, look at how much money we got.'
"I think these things combined with no checks and balances, not having an operations department in place that is allowed to put in policies, procedures and safeguards — which is what I thought I was hired to do — and the rapid growth has just facilitated this."
Another former NGP employee denounced "a complete failure of leadership."
"This is also the subject of litigation and dispute — like, it's the subject of an active dispute right now between me and NGP and their lawyers," Ufot told Politico. "It's complete bulls**t."