Natalie Adams Quoted in the Daily Beast on D.C. Trucker Convoy Donations

Bradley partner Natalie Adams was quoted in the Daily Beast on the D.C. Trucker Convoy donations.

If the convoy was found to use the donations for reasons outside of its mission, Adams said the convoy and its sponsor, the AFCLF (American Foundation for Civil Liberties and Freedom), might have some explaining to do. “The federal standard to prove wire fraud has two elements: That somebody intended to defraud somebody else; and that they used wire communications to do it. So here the question is whether they intended to defraud,” Adams explained.

Adams pointed to the convoy’s website, which says explicitly that “100% OF THE DONATIONS GO TO SUPPORTING THE CONVOY!”

“A prosecutor would look at what’s communicated on that site to see what someone would reasonably believe that money would be spent on,” Adams said, noting that if they do not intend that all funds are really going to be used “on a road trip to straighten out our problems,” that would be misrepresentation.

Adams noted that large events will always carry overhead. “But if the organizers fudged those promises, or made the group sound more accountable or made the money sound more directed for a purpose than it really is, then we get into possible fraud territory,” she said.

The complete article, "The $2 Million Question: What Did the D.C. Trucker Convoy Donations Buy?," was originally published by the Daily Beast on March 9, 2022.