From a press release issued by the office of the state attorney general,
Attorney General Ellison sues We Push for Peace and its two former leaders for misusing over $6.5 million in charitable assets
The AG reports,
State files lawsuit against We Push for Peace and two of its former officers and directors, Trahern Pollard and Jaclyn McGuigan, for misusing charitable assets, violating nonprofit governance laws, lying to the AGO, and running the nonprofit into the ground to steal its business for personal gain.
The accusation,
Over $6 million benefitted Pollard personally, who used charitable assets on items like luxury cars, trips to Vegas, child support payments, and funding his for-profit liquor store and car dealership businesses.
These are not criminal charges, this was a civil lawsuit where Ellison is suing the two individuals named above and the corporate entity We Push for Peace.
Ellison explains,
Shortly after We Push for Peace was first contacted by the Attorney General’s Office, Pollard founded “We Push for Peace-For Profit Professional Service Corporation.”
To get the timelines straight, the nonprofit We Push for Peace corporation was founded in 2016 by Pollard. It received its IRS tax-exempt status in June 2020. The nonprofit filed short-form tax returns for the years 2020 and 2021, indicating annual revenue of less than $50,000.
In 2022, the nonprofit filed a full tax return, showing revenue of just under $700,000 and expenses above $700,000, resulting in negative net assets of (37,000). The nonprofit reports that the 2022 deficit was covered by a loan from Pollard to the organization.
The nonprofit’s 2023 return shows revenune of $103,000 against expenses of $87,000. That was the final return filed by the nonprofit. The millions of dollars in revenue Ellison refers to never flowed through the nonprofit.
The AG reports,
More recently, Pollard formed another new for-profit business, Change Makers, to divert the nonprofit’s contracts and workers to himself. Pollard diverted so many contracts from We Push for Peace that it ultimately caused the demise of the organization.
Here’s my favorite part, the scandal involves the purchase of Merwin Liquor in north Minneapolis at the infamous Broadway and Lyndale intersection.
Of course, this is national news. From the New York Post,
Minnesota nonprofit accused of siphoning $6.5M to fund Vegas trips, luxury cars, private liquor store
Developing…
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