Chris Wilson, founder and CEO of top Republican polling firm WPA Intelligence, likely used company funds for personal expenses, a company audit found. He was fired as a result, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
This comes after his company’s CFO was fired and charged with embezzlement earlier this year, a charge she denies. In response, WPAi management began investigating how Wilson spent company funds, the person said.
Two outside auditing firms were hired to investigate, and two business consultants were later hired to rebuild the company and restore profitability, the people said. Wilson, who has worked on behalf of Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz’s presidential campaigns, was fired on Dec. 5 and is no longer a publicly traded company, people said. Website.
Five people with direct knowledge of the company’s finances say Mr. Wilson has used company money in past years to pay for what appear to be personal expenses, including vacations, medical expenses and the use of a nanny. That’s what it means. situation. Mr. Wilson sometimes used WPAi funds to pay large portions of his personal credit card bills and also used them for company business, two people familiar with the matter said. Officials declined to share the audit with POLITICO.
The people featured in this article were granted anonymity to disclose sensitive human resources matters.
Ryan Leonard, an attorney representing Wilson, said the allegations behind Wilson’s firing were “defamatory and false.”
“Mr. Chris’ former business partners at WPAi were always fully transparent about all aspects of their business, including all transactions,” he said in a statement. “The timing of these allegations is especially surprising given that Chris actually received a raise after the recent audit was completed. I wish you good luck.”
In a text message to POLITICO before he was fired from WPAi, Wilson said, “I am confident that my ethical leadership and professional accomplishments speak for themselves.”
“When you run a company, your professional and personal lives sometimes become intertwined,” he said, noting that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, all WPAi employees received their full three paychecks. He pointed out that he had paid from his own bank account. Someone has to be fired. (He said he didn’t pay him back afterwards.)
WPAi asked Wilson’s wife to accompany him because he suffered a stroke several years ago and was advised by doctors not to go on overnight trips alone, according to a person who has worked with him. It is said that he covered part of his work trip.
A WPAi spokesperson said the company could not comment on so-called “ongoing litigation,” but added in a statement:[I]It is clear that Mr. Wilson has not been candid about the circumstances that led to his resignation. We are focused on moving forward and are relieved that this difficult chapter is over. ” A spokesperson declined to comment when asked about the details of the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for Axiom Strategies, a huge Republican consulting firm owned by Jeff Roe, one of WPAi’s minority investors, declined to comment.
Earlier this year, Mr. Wilson used WPAi funds to pay employees at Carver Management, his private real estate business, to work full-time, according to two people familiar with the matter. Documents reviewed by POLITICO also show that the employee in question worked full time for Carver. WPA also leases office space in Edmond, Oklahoma, from Carver Management, according to . local real estate records.
Three people with direct knowledge of the matter said there was a surprise move from WPAi to Carver this year. Two people familiar with the matter said WPAi transferred $40,000 to Mr. Carver in April and another $20,000 in September. WPAi paid for Carver’s insurance coverage and building association dues this year, two people familiar with the matter said.
Wilson said WPAi is paying rent from his real estate company at a “significantly discounted price per square foot,” and Carver is losing money every month on the space. He also said the employee in question was paid for Carver’s work by that company, not WPAi.
Those costs hurt the company’s profits last year, according to three people familiar with the company. Some vendors did not receive payments on time, and non-sales employees received their quarterly bonuses several quarters late and did not receive them at all in the second quarter, one of the people said. Employees were upset because bonuses account for a significant portion of their election-year income, the person said.
In previous cycles, WPAi, which Mr. Wilson founded in 1998, has supported Congressional Leadership Fund, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Rep. Jen Quiggans (R-Va.) and Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) He has worked for numerous Republicans, including. , according to FEC records.
Mr. Wilson’s dismissal comes after his chief financial officer, Katherine Greider, was fired from WPAi in November 2023 after she was accused of misappropriating company cash for personal use, according to two people familiar with the matter. This was done in response to this. One of the people said she was fired days after her then-fiancé showed up at the office asking for a check for a painting job he had done for the company, even though it didn’t need to be painted. It is said that This alarmed WPAi staff, who told Wilson about the incident and launched an internal investigation.
Wilson turned himself in to police, and Oklahoma prosecutors in June charged Grider with felony embezzlement of more than $1,000. She reportedly pleaded not guilty and appeared in court in late November as the case progressed to trial. court record. edmond police report Greider also admitted to embezzling more than $11,000 from WPAi and Carver, but said he “intended to repay the entire amount” and actually wrote a check for $16,000 to Wilson’s attorney. said. This incident had not been previously reported.
Mr. Greider’s lawyer declined to comment.
Wilson also declined to comment on the specifics of the Glider case, saying it is an ongoing criminal matter. In a statement released before his departure, he said: “This has been the most difficult experience of my professional career. Throughout this ordeal, I have acted in accordance with my faith and strived to protect my personal integrity. My focus has been and continues to be to protect our employees and customers from any impact. I remain unwavering in my commitment to these principles.”
According to the police report, Grider secretly siphoned off the money, funneled it to a company owned by his girlfriend, and used his WPAi business account to pay for personal insurance and phone accounts.
“There was a lot of money going around and trying to cover up what she was doing,” said Bill Simmons, WPAi’s chief operating officer at the time who resigned at the end of August.
This is the second time Mr. Greider has been accused of doing this to a company owned by Mr. Wilson. In 2019, she charged approximately $17,000 to $18,000 worth of items from the Apple Music Store to a business credit card owned by a company affiliated with the Wilsons, according to a police report.
“Chris tried to be himself and work with this person, express his forgiveness and try to move on, but the second time was so bad that he never had a chance,” Simmons said. . “So once we found out, she was immediately fired.”
Gliders are sparse LinkedIn profilestill uses her maiden name, Katie Ross, and calls herself “Christian.” mother. wife. aunt,” and describes her as a “proven and experienced accountant who has worked in the accounting industry.”
20 years ago, Wilson was fired He filed a lawsuit against the polling company’s then-parent company, Quorbis, for allegedly stealing trade secrets and cash while planning to launch a competing company, which he denied, but the case was eventually settled. It’s arrived. wilson was also sued In 2021, his ex-wife alleged that he continued to improperly use a data software platform to collect voter data obtained during their divorce.
Mr Wilson has contested the allegations in court, with his lawyer Mr Leonard saying the facts are “not relevant to the litigation”.
