Chris Wilson, the founder and CEO of prime Republican polling agency WPA Intelligence, was fired after firm audits discovered he doubtless used agency cash to pay for private bills, based on two individuals instantly accustomed to the matter.
It comes after his agency’s CFO was fired and charged with embezzlement earlier this 12 months, a cost that she denies. That led individuals on WPAi’s management group to begin wanting into how Wilson had spent firm cash, based on the individuals.
Two outdoors auditing corporations have been employed to conduct investigations, and two enterprise consultants have been later introduced on to restructure the corporate and restore its profitability, based on the individuals. Wilson, who has labored on behalf of presidential efforts for Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz, was fired on Dec. 5, based on the individuals, and is not listed on the corporate’s web site.
The audits of the corporate’s funds discovered that over the previous a number of years Wilson used agency cash to pay for objects that have been doubtless for private bills, akin to holidays, well being fees and the usage of a nanny, based on 5 individuals with direct information of the state of affairs. Wilson at occasions used WPAi’s cash to pay giant parts of his private bank card invoice, which he would additionally use for firm enterprise, based on two of the individuals. The individuals declined to share the audit with POLITICO.
The individuals on this story have been granted anonymity to reveal delicate personnel issues.
Ryan Leonard, a lawyer representing Wilson, known as the allegations behind Wilson’s firing “defamatory and false.”
“Chris’s former business partners at WPAi at all times had complete transparency into all aspects of the business, including every single business transaction,” he mentioned in a press release. “The timing of these allegations is particularly surprising given that, following completion of a recent audit, Chris was actually given a raise. While Chris recently left the company following the election, he wishes his former team members at WPAi all the best.”
In a textual content message to POLITICO earlier than he was fired from WPAi, Wilson mentioned he “was confident that my record of ethical leadership and professional achievement speaks for itself.”
“When you run a company, business and personal sometimes become intertwined,” he mentioned, noting that he paid three full paychecks for all WPAi workers firstly of the Covid-19 pandemic out of his private checking account in order that he didn’t have to put anybody off. (He mentioned he didn’t reimburse himself after.)
WPAi coated some work journeys for Wilson’s spouse to accompany him as a result of he had a stroke a number of years in the past and has been suggested by a doctor to not take in a single day journeys by himself, based on an individual who has labored with Wilson.
A WPAi spokesperson mentioned the agency couldn’t touch upon what it known as “ongoing litigation” however added in a press release: “[I]t’s clear that Mr. Wilson has not been forthcoming about the circumstances leading to his departure. We are focused on moving forward and are relieved that this challenging chapter is behind us.” The spokesperson declined to remark when requested in regards to the particulars of the litigation.
A spokesperson for Axiom Methods, the mega Republican consulting agency owned by Jeff Roe and one of many minority buyers in WPAi, declined to remark.
Earlier this 12 months, Wilson used WPAi cash to pay an worker of his private actual property enterprise, Carver Administration, to work a full time job for that actual property entity, based on two individuals accustomed to the matter. A doc reviewed by POLITICO additionally reveals that the worker in query labored full-time for Carver. WPA additionally rents its Edmond, Oklahoma, workplace area from Carver Administration, based on native actual property data.
Three of the individuals instantly accustomed to the matter mentioned there had been shock transfers from WPAi to Carver this 12 months. In April, $40,000 was despatched from WPAi to Carver, and $20,000 was despatched in September, two of the individuals mentioned. This 12 months, WPAi has paid for Carver’s insurance coverage protection and constructing affiliation dues, based on two of the individuals.
Wilson mentioned that WPAi paid a “highly reduced price per square foot” for lease from his actual property agency and Carver loses cash on the area each month. He additionally mentioned that the worker in query was paid for Carver work by that agency, not by WPAi.
Such bills have damage the corporate’s backside line within the final 12 months, based on three of the individuals accustomed to the corporate. Some distributors haven’t obtained funds on time, and non-sales workers obtained their quarterly bonuses late for a number of quarters and under no circumstances within the second quarter, mentioned one of many individuals. That left workers indignant, the individual mentioned, because the bonuses account for a large portion of their election-year earnings.
This previous cycle, WPAi, which Wilson based in 1998, has executed work for quite a few Republicans, together with the Congressional Management Fund, the Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee and Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) and Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), based on FEC data.
Wilson’s dismissal comes after his CFO, Catherine Gryder, was fired from WPAi in November 2023 for her personal use of firm money, based on two individuals accustomed to the matter. She was fired a number of days after her fiancé on the time had come to the agency’s workplace asking for a examine for a portray job he had executed for the workplace regardless that it didn’t should be painted, based on one of many individuals. That raised alarm bells with a WPAi staffer, who then advised Wilson in regards to the incident and set off an inner investigation.
Wilson went to the police, and Oklahoma prosecutors charged Gryder in June with one felony depend of embezzlement over $1,000. She pleaded not responsible and appeared in courtroom in late November because the case winds its method by way of the courtroom system, based on courtroom data. An Edmond police report additionally mentioned that Gryder had admitted to embezzling greater than $11,000 from WPAi and Carver “but planned to pay it all back,” and truly did ship a $16,000 examine to Wilson’s lawyer. The incident has not beforehand been reported.
Gryder’s lawyer declined to remark.
Wilson additionally declined to touch upon specifics of the Gryder case, saying it’s an ongoing prison matter. In a press release launched earlier than his personal departure from the agency, he mentioned: “This has been the most challenging experience of my professional career. Throughout this ordeal, I have strived to act in accordance with my faith and uphold my personal integrity. My primary focus has been, and continues to be, shielding our employees and clients from any fallout. I remain unwavering in my commitment to these principles.”
In keeping with the police report, Gryder quietly siphoned off cash, spent cash on an organization owned by her romantic accomplice and used a WPAi enterprise account to pay for her private insurance coverage and telephone accounts.
“There was a lot of moving money around and trying to hide what she was doing,” mentioned Invoice Simmons, who was COO of WPAi on the time and left on the finish of August.
This was the second time that Gryder had allegedly executed this to a agency owned by Wilson. In 2019, based on the police report, she charged round $17,000 to $18,000 in objects from Apple’s music retailer to a enterprise bank card owned by a agency of Wilson’s.
“Chris, being who he is, tried to work with this person, offer a sense of forgiveness and try to keep moving forward, but the second time was so egregious, there was just no opportunity,” mentioned Simmons. “So once we discovered it, she was fired immediately.”
Gryder’s sparse LinkedIn profile, which nonetheless carries her maiden identify Catie Ross, calls herself a “Christian. Mom. Wife. Aunt” and says she is an “experienced accountant with a demonstrated history of working in the accounting industry.”
Twenty years in the past, Wilson was fired by his polling agency’s then-parent firm Qorvis and sued for allegedly “stealing corporate secrets and cash while plotting to launch a competing firm,” accusations that he denied, in a case that was ultimately settled. Wilson was additionally sued in 2021 by his ex-wife, who claimed he had continued to improperly use a knowledge software program platform to gather voter knowledge that she had gotten within the divorce.
Wilson is disputing the allegations in courtroom and Leonard, his lawyer, mentioned “the lawsuit has no bearing” in details.
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