Attorney General Ellison sues We Push for Peace and its two former leaders for misusing over $6.5 million in charitable assets

State files lawsuit against We Push for Peace and two of its former officers and directors, Trahern Pollard and Jaclyn McGuigan, for misusing charitable assets, violating nonprofit governance laws, lying to the AGO, and running the nonprofit into the ground to steal its business for personal gain

May 8, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced today he has filed a lawsuit against We Push for Peace, a Minnesota nonprofit corporation, and two of its former directors, Trahern Pollard and Jaclyn McGuigan, alleging numerous violations of charities laws for misusing over $6.5 million nonprofit assets, engaging in numerous governance and oversight violations that enabled the rampant abuse of assets and caused other risks to the nonprofit, lying to the AGO in the course of its investigation, and ultimately causing the demise of the nonprofit to steal its business for personal gain.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County, alleges Pollard and McGuigan improperly used nonprofit assets for their personal benefit, diverting more than $6.5 million from We Push for Peace.  Over $6 million benefitted Pollard personally, who used charitable assets on items like luxury cars, trips to Vegas, child support payments, and funding his for-profit liquor store and car dealership businesses. Additional information on the misused assets is available in Attorney General Ellison’s lawsuit. The Attorney General attempted to work with the nonprofit’s new leadership, who cooperated with the Office, to ensure the nonprofit’s continuation, but the extent of Pollard and McGuigan’s violations and ongoing attempts to thwart the investigation necessitated legal action.

Pollard and McGuigan also attempted to hide their misuse of nonprofit assets from the AGO and other regulators, including from taxing authorities. Pollard provided numerous false statements to AGO investigators under penalty of perjury, including stating that a child support payment was actually for nonprofit overhead expenses and that a $35,000 payment to Pollard’s friends was for “Chicago Payroll.” Shortly after We Push for Peace was first contacted by the Attorney General’s Office, Pollard founded “We Push for Peace-For Profit Professional Service Corporation.” Ten days later, Pollard told the Attorney General’s Office that We Push for Peace had a for-profit arm, and that “private contracts and/or non-government funds are handled through this entity,” despite the fact that the for-profit entity was ten days old and the contracts and funds actually belonged to We Push for Peace.

More recently, Pollard formed another new for-profit business, Change Makers, to divert the nonprofit’s contracts and workers to himself. Pollard diverted so many contracts from We Push for Peace that it ultimately caused the demise of the organization. In fact, when the City of Minneapolis reached out to We Push for Peace during Operation Metro Surge for community support, the formerly multimillion-dollar organization lacked any capacity to serve its basic function to assist the community.

“We Push for Peace’s former leaders betrayed their basic duties to the nonprofit and communities they were supposed to serve,” Attorney General Ellison said. “Instead of helping the community, they helped themselves to millions of dollars that should have gone into the community. During Operation Metro Surge, when we needed nonprofits providing social services and community support the most, We Push for Peace was utterly incapable of assisting Minnesotans. When my Office asked questions, Pollard and McGuigan lied about key facts, continued to misuse assets, and ultimately caused the demise of the nonprofit. We filed this lawsuit to redress these harms and hold its former leaders accountable.”

After receiving a complaint, the Charities Division of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office investigated under the Minnesota Nonprofit Corporation Act, Minnesota Charitable Solicitation Act, and the Supervision of Charitable Trusts and Trustees Act.  The resulting lawsuit includes claims related to violations of the Minnesota Nonprofit Corporation Act for diverting assets from their original nonprofit purpose as described above, lacking a board of directors, failing to hold annual board meetings, failing to have basic policies and safeguards in place to protect the organization, including ensuring the proper classification and payment of workers; failing to maintain accurate and complete financial records, engaging in conflicted transactions and loans, and committing other breaches of directors’ and officers’ fiduciary duties, including by usurping the nonprofit’s business.

In Minnesota, the Attorney General, through the Charities Division, has civil enforcement authority over the state’s nonprofit corporation, charitable trust, and charitable solicitation laws.  The Charities Division does not enforce criminal laws.  Under state law, nonprofit directors and officers owe fiduciary duties to act in the best interest of the charities that they serve, including putting the interests of the nonprofit above any personal financial interests.  The Attorney General’s Office provides additional information about these fiduciary duties, as well as other resources to help nonprofit leaders properly serve their organizations, on its website.

The public may submit complaints to the Attorney General about nonprofit directors and officers misusing nonprofit assets or putting their own interests before the charity’s interests. Complaints may be submitted by using a form on the Attorney General’s website, or by calling (651) 296-3353 (Metro area), (800) 657-3787 (Greater Minnesota), or (800) 627-3529 (Minnesota Relay).