According to a breaking RealClearInvestigations report, Stacey Abrams’ nonprofit Fair Fight Action paid over $20.2 million in legal fees to Lawrence & Bundy LLC, which was co-founded by her close college friend and former campaign chair Allegra Lawrence-Hardy. Most of the money went to fund a failed 2018 voting rights lawsuit against Georgia, which was dismissed in 2022 for lack of evidence of discrimination.
Reacting, Ethics experts, including Paul Kamenar of the National Legal and Policy Center, flagged potential conflicts of interest, self-dealing, and excessive fees, given the state’s scant $6 million in defense costs. Additionally, Abrams and Lawrence-Hardy share business ties and office space.
Adding much-needed context, the Fair Fight Action Inc. articles of incorporation vowed, “The Corporation will not be operated for the pecuniary gain or profit of any individual.”Additionally, the same document promised that no revenue will be “distributed” to any individual except when “authorized to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered.”
Reacting to this scandal, Paul Kamenar, who serves as counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center, said, “Twenty million in fees is outrageous. It may be an IRS violation for waste of nonprofit assets, as well as self-dealing and other ethical and legal breaches.”
Continuing his comments, the experienced lawyer noted, “At a minimum, hiring her friend as lead attorney presents a glaring conflict of interest, because Abrams’ close association with both the Fair Fight case and her friend provided an opportunity to enrich her friend through the nonprofit’s litigation.”
Wrapping up his analysis, Paul Kamenar explained the core of the allegations. “These businesses raise more suspicion that Abrams used her nonprofit [Fair Fight] to enrich her friends and herself, which is a clear conflict of interest,” he clarified.
In her 2022 book ‘Level Up: Rise Above The Hidden Forces Holding Your Business Back,’ Stacey Abrams thanked the figure at the center of this scandal. “Sustaining the pursuit of a business ambition demands all manner of investment – definitely financial capital, but less often lauded, copious amounts of patience, forbearance and forgiveness. I appreciate these coming in abundance from those named and unnamed, including … Allegra Lawrence-Hardy,” she wrote.
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During a 2018 voting-rights lawsuit against the state of Georgia, Allegra Lawrence-Hardy is said to have claimed, “This is a modern-day Jim Crow.” Reacting, U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones issued a ruling which declared, “Fair Fight failed to provide “direct evidence of a voter who was unable to vote” because of the state’s allegedly racist election laws.
Xakota Espinoza, a Fair Fight Action communications director, inadvertently revealed the close relationship between her organization and the embattled lawyer in a 2022 remark. “Fair Fight Action, along with five other organizations, had the honor of being represented by Allegra Lawrence-Hardy in her role as lead counsel for the plaintiffs, as well as by a number of esteemed lawyers at Lawrence & Bundy and the seven other firms involved in this case,” she said.
Likewise, Dara Lindenbaum, former general counsel for Abrams’ 2018 campaign and Fair Fight Action, announced, “Given her stature as one of the most respected lawyers in Georgia, her deep election law experience, including her knowledge of both federal and Georgia election law, Allegra was the obvious choice and best person to lead the Fair Fight Action case.”
Watch Abrams’ meltdown after she got called out for corruption: