Stacey Abrams' Nonprofit Paid $20M to Friend's Law Firm Amid Lawsuit

Stacey Abrams' nonprofit, Fair Fight Action, has come under scrutiny for paying over $20 million to a law firm co-founded by Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Abrams’ close friend and former campaign chair, between 2019 and 2023. The payments, reportedly for unspecified legal services related mainly to a failed 2018 racial discrimination lawsuit against Georgia's election system, raise conflict-of-interest concerns given the nonprofit's charter prohibiting operation for individual profit. Legal experts and ethics watchdogs have criticized the high fees as potentially constituting IRS violations, waste of nonprofit assets, and self-dealing, noting that the state of Georgia spent significantly less defending against the lawsuit. These expenditures contributed to Fair Fight Action accumulating $2.5 million in debt by 2024, leading to staff layoffs. Abrams has faced previous scrutiny for financial irregularities in other voter advocacy groups she founded. Both Abrams and Lawrence-Hardy have not commented on the allegations as investigations continue.