A nonprofit founded by perennial candidate Stacey Abrams has settled a complaint with the Georgia Ethics Commission and will pay $300,000 to the state for illegally spending millions to bolster Abrams’ 2018 gubernatorial bid.
According to the consent order, which was made public Wednesday following the ethics commission’s vote to approve it, the New Georgia Project and its fundraising arm, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, failed to disclose approximately $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in expenses. which were primarily used to support Abrams during the 2018 primary and general elections.
The order details 16 violations of state law, including failing to register the group as a political committee, failing to file a series of required disclosure reports and failing to disclose millions of dollars in political contributions and expenses. By accepting the consent order and paying the $300,000 fine, New Georgia Project admits it violated the law, according to the order.
The consent order also details New Georgia Project’s involvement in advocating for a 2019 ballot initiative that would have expanded public transportation. That violation included more than $600,000 in contributions and $173,000 in expenses.
David Emadi, executive director of the Georgia ethics commission, said in a statement that the fine is the largest ever imposed by the commission and may be the largest fine ever imposed by a state ethics board in a campaign finance case. .
“While this fine is significant in scale, it is also appropriate given the scope of state law that was violated in this case,” Emadi said. “This represents the largest and most significant case of an organization illegally influencing our state elections in Georgia that we have ever uncovered, and I believe this sends a clear message to both the public and potential bad actors in the future that we will do so.” responsible. “
David Fox, who represented New Georgia Project at the hearing, said the settlement was a “reasonable resolution” for something that happened years ago, adding that the group is “eager to move forward.”
During Wednesday’s ethics commission meeting, Emadi presented social media posts, checks, polls and phone banking information as evidence of the work of the New Georgia Project and the action fund to strengthen Abrams in 2018. The presentation also showed a routine overlap between the two groups.
The board unanimously approved the consent order.
The agreement ends a years-long investigation into the group’s activity that dates back to 2019 and which went to court on several occasions. The ethics commission subpoenaed the group’s banking records and reviewed its complaint in 2022 after the Georgia Court of Appeals approved access to the statements.
In another case, the New Georgia Project attempted to block the ethics board investigation, but in July 2024 The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a district court ruling that had initially stopped the investigation.
A 2023 POLITICO investigation found that the group’s former CEO, Nsé Ufot, owes the organization thousands of dollars in “non-work-related” reimbursements.
Abrams founded the New Georgia Project in 2014 as an offshoot of another nonprofit called Third Sector Development. Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock chaired the organization for more than two years, from when it first became an independent 501(c)3 organization in 2017 until January 2020.
A spokesperson for Abrams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.