{"id":2601342,"date":"2026-05-11T16:29:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/minnesota-crime-prevention-group-accused-of-6-5-million-fraud-scheme\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T16:35:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:35:44","slug":"minnesota-crime-prevention-group-accused-of-6-5-million-fraud-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/minnesota-crime-prevention-group-accused-of-6-5-million-fraud-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota crime prevention group accused of $6.5 million fraud scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fminnesota-crime-prevention-group-accused-of-6-5-million-fraud-scheme%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2601342&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Minneapolis nonprofit founded as a \u201ccompassionate\u201d choice to traditional policing-praised by Minnesota democrats and funded with state and local grants-now faces civil fraud allegations. State charity regulators claim we Push for Peace and its former leaders, including founder\/president\/CEO Trahern Pollard and former treasurer Jaclyn McGuigan, violated Minnesota charity law by allegedly funneling more than $6.5 million in charitable assets for personal use.<\/p>\n<p>According to the complaint, the money was allegedly used for luxury items and trips, including Las Vegas vacations, child support payments, and businesses tied to Pollard. Prosecutors also allege Pollard misrepresented how workers were classified (as contractors rather than employees) to avoid required background checks, relied on informal payment methods, and created related entities-such as a for-profit company-while claiming they handled non-government work, even though it was allegedly newly formed. The lawsuit further alleges the institution lacked proper governance,basic policies,and accurate financial record-keeping.<\/p>\n<p>The Attorney General\u2019s office says Pollard and McGuigan lied to investigators during the charity-fraud inquiry, continued misusing assets, and ultimately drove the organization into insolvency; We Push for Peace has as stopped operating.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >government-funded community peacekeeping organization championed<\/a> by <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Minnesota\/\">Minnesota<\/a> Democrats as an alternative to traditional <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/police\/\">policing<\/a> is accused of diverting over $6.5 million in charitable assets toward luxury cars, trips to Las Vegas, and child support payments as part of a self-dealing scheme.<\/p>\n<p>We Push for Peace, a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Minneapolis\/\">Minneapolis<\/a>-based <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/nonprofits\/\">nonprofit<\/a> corporation formed ostensibly to combat crime in a \u201ccompassionate\u201d manner, faces civil fraud charges for allegedly violating Minnesota <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/charity\/\">charity<\/a> law and purposely running the 501(c)(3) group into the ground \u201cto steal its business for personal gain.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4556120\/minnesota-fraud-cases-overwhelming-backlog\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Minnesota off<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/minnesota-off-loads-fraud-cases-onto-federal-investigators-due-to-backlog\/\" title=\"Minnesota off-loads fraud cases onto ... to backlog\">-loads fraud cases<\/a> onto federal investigators due to overwhelming backlog<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4557754\/ilhan-omar-accused-hiding-messages-feed-our-future-fraud-panel-says\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Ilhan Omar withholding records of her messages with Feeding Our Future mastermind, Minnesota fraud committee says<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4553928\/convicted-somali-scammer-avoid-jail-time-minnesota-largest-medicaid-fraud-case\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Convicted Somali scammer to avoid jail time in Minnesota\u2019s largest-ever Medicaid fraud case<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>State oversight officials filed the lawsuit on Friday against We Push for Peace, its former director, Trahern Pollard, and its ex-treasurer, Jaclyn McGuigan, alleging that they lied to the Minnesota Attorney General\u2019s Office and the state\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/ag.state.mn.us\/Charity\/\">chief regulator of charities<\/a> over the course of its fraud investigation about the money funneling operation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>According to the 37-page complaint, more than $6 million of the stolen funds personally benefited Pollard, the founder, president, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/canadian-olympic-committee-warns-athletes-not-to-criticize-china\/\" title=\"Canadian Olympic Committee Warns Athletes Not to Criticize China\">chief executive officer<\/a> of We Push for Peace.<\/p>\n<p>We Push for Peace\u2019s website <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wepushforpeace.org\/about-1\">touts<\/a> that Pollard, a self-proclaimed \u201cexpert in the field of crime reduction,\u201d was often called upon by Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and other Democratic leaders, all the way up to the Biden White House and its <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Year-One-Report-Final.pdf\">Community Violence taskforce<\/a>, \u201cfor his knowledge, voice, presence, and solutions surrounding crime, intervention, prevention and creating safe communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Originally founded in 2016, We Push for Peace started receiving government grant funding following the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/defund-the-police\/\">\u201cdefund the police\u201d<\/a> movement, We Push for Peace was awarded government grants from Hennepin County and Minneapolis to provide \u201cviolence interruption\u201d services for juvenile offenders and \u201cBoots on the Ground\u201d community policing, a violence prevention program that deputized civilians to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mace-dodges-on-whether-she-would-welcome-crime-crackdown-in-south-carolina\/\" title=\"Mace dodges on whether she would &#039;welcome&#039; crime crackdown in South Carolina\">patrol high-crime areas<\/a> instead of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-turned-republican-congressman-receives-threatening-messages-from-opinion-columnist\/\" title=\"Democrat-Turned-Republican Congressman Receives Threatening Messages From Opinion Columnist\">city police officers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">So-called community engagers out on patrol in crime-ridden areas. (WePushforPeace.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The \u201ccommunity liaison services,\u201d through which We Push for Peace made millions of dollars each year, involved \u201ccommunity engagers\u201d hired to interact with certain individuals under \u201ccommunity outreach contracts.\u201d Such interactions were intended to \u201cdisrupt\u201d criminal conduct through mental health counseling rather than to report suspected criminals to police.<\/p>\n<p>Per prosecutors, Pollard classified the community engagers as contractors, not employees, to circumvent required background checks on We Push for Peace\u2019s workers, many of whom had criminal records themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Community engagers were paid in a variety of informal ways, including by mobile transfers on payment processors such as Zelle. Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor initiated an investigation into We Push for Peace for hourly wage violations.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities say Pollard spent his cut of the charity\u2019s money on luxury vehicles, Las Vegas vacations, child support payments, and financing his liquor store, TXT Wine &#038; Spirits, and pre-owned car dealership called Pollard\u2019s Auto Sales.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, Pollard allegedly <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/mblsportal.sos.mn.gov\/Business\/SearchDetails?filingGuid=c5fee1c9-54d8-ef11-908d-00155d32b947\">formed<\/a> another for-profit business, \u201cChange Makers,\u201d and deposited checks made out to We Push for Peace into separate Change Makers accounts. Charging documents say that Pollard siphoned off so much revenue from We Push for Peace that the misappropriations bankrupted the crime-fighting organization.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, when the Minneapolis city government reached out to We Push for Peace for help with \u201ccommunity support\u201d during Operation Metro Surge, a federal deportation campaign in the Twin Cities metropolitan area that sparked violent riots, officials say the formerly multimillion-dollar organization \u201clacked any capacity to serve its basic function to assist the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/columnists\/4441828\/sanctuary-cities-are-sanctuaries-for-criminals\/\"><strong>OPINION: SANCTUARY CITIES ARE SANCTUARIES FOR CRIMINALS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring 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,\u201d said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/ag.state.mn.us\/Office\/Communications\/2026\/05\/08_WePushForPeace.asp\">a press release<\/a> announcing the fraud case. \u201cWhen my office asked questions, Pollard and McGuigan lied about key facts, continued to misuse assets, and ultimately caused the demise of the nonprofit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pollard, who has a prior criminal conviction for theft by swindling, allegedly provided numerous false statements to investigators, insisting that the child support payments were actually for the nonprofit\u2019s overhead costs and that tens of thousands of dollars sent to his friends covered payroll in Chicago.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trahern Pollard, formerly the chief executive officer of We Push for Peace. (Instagram)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Shortly after We Push for Peace was first flagged for suspicious activity, Pollard <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/mblsportal.sos.mn.gov\/Business\/SearchDetails?filingGuid=99d0557b-f4e2-ee11-907f-00155d01c440\">founded<\/a> \u201cWe Push for Peace-For Profit Professional Service Corporation.\u201d A little over a week later, Pollard allegedly told Ellison\u2019s office that We Push for Peace had a for-profit arm and that \u201cprivate contracts and\/or non-government funds are handled through this entity,\u201d despite the fact that the for-profit offshoot was only 10 days old.<\/p>\n<p>Among other allegations against We Push for Peace, the lawsuit says it lacked a board of directors, failed to have basic policies and procedures in place, and did not maintain accurate or complete financial records. McGuigan, the organization\u2019s treasurer, allegedly described her accounting practices as \u201cback of the napkin\u201d record-keeping.<\/p>\n<p>Ellison\u2019s office said it attempted to work with We Push for Peace\u2019s newly elected leadership to ensure the nonprofit organization\u2019s continuation, but the financial damage was too extensive. We Push for Peace is now no longer operational.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/3882360\/some-community-peacekeepers-championed-by-democrats-now-charged-with-murder\/\"><strong>SOME \u2018COMMUNITY PEACEKEEPERS\u2019 CHAMPIONED BY DEMOCRATS NOW CHARGED WITH MURDER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We Push for Peace reported that, as of April, its offices are \u201cessentially sitting vacant\u201d and there is \u201csimply no funding to support the services the organization was providing or to pay any employees or contractors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for collecting contributions, We Push for Peace still <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wepushforpeace.org\/donate\">solicits donations<\/a> on Venmo and CashApp.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minnesota Democrats\u2019 peacekeeping nonprofit faces fraud claims for allegedly diverting $6.5M+ of charity funds to luxuries, Vegas trips, and child support<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3767,"featured_media":2601343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26063618187513.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32147,41631,6909,5698],"class_list":["post-2601342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime-prevention","tag-financial-crime","tag-fraud","tag-minnesota"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26063618187513.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3767"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2601342"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2601346,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601342\/revisions\/2601346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2601343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2601342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2601342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2601342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}