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True the Vote has been a key player in giving rise to the myth that widespread voter fraud is undermining U.S. elections.
Yet the Texas-based nonprofit hasn’t proven its big claims – or even produced the evidence it promises.
Our new investigation shows what True the Vote has been doing with its donations: It has engaged in a series of questionable transactions that has directed more than $1 million combined to its founder, a longtime board member and its general counsel. Based on thousands of pages of tax filings and court documents, the story highlights how promoting former President Donald Trump’s Big Lie has become a thriving economy.
The records show:
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Questionable loans: True the Vote regularly reported loans to founder Catherine Engelbrecht, including more than $113,000 in 2019, according to a tax filing. Texas law bans nonprofits from loaning money to directors; Engelbrecht is both a director and an employee.
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Insider contracts: Companies connected to Engelbrecht and longtime board member Gregg Phillips collected nearly $890,000 from True the Vote from 2014 to 2020. The largest payment – at least $750,000 – went to a new company created by Phillips. One expert called the contract “eye-popping” for its largess. Engelbrecht and Phillips also have been romantically linked in a court filing from a disgruntled donor.
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Big legal bills for failed strategy: True the Vote provided conservative superstar attorney James Bopp Jr.’s law firm a retainer of at least $500,000 to lead a legal charge against the results of the 2020 election, but he filed only four of the seven lawsuits promised to a $2.5 million donor, all of which were voluntarily dismissed less than a week after being filed. The donor later called the amount billed by Bopp’s firm “unconscionable” and “impossible.”
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Bad bookkeeping: The organization’s tax returns are riddled with inconsistencies and have regularly been amended. Experts who reviewed the filings said it makes it difficult to understand how True the Vote is truly spending its donations.
Legal and nonprofit accounting experts who reviewed Reveal’s findings said the Texas attorney general and Internal Revenue Service should investigate.
“This certainly looks really bad,” said Laurie Styron, executive director of CharityWatch.
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