Wounded Warrior Project Executives Fired

The top executives of the Wounded Warrior Project were fired by their board of directors yesterday.

Steven Nardizzi, the CEO, and Al Giordano, the Chief Operating Officer, were fired after a New York meeting this Thursday.

The Wounded Warrior Project, which works to aid soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, receives hundreds of millions of dollars yearly. It has raised more than $1 billion since its inception in 2003. However, CBS News reported that 40% to 50% of the donations are spent on such things as “extravagant parties.” $26 million was spent on superfluous overhead in 2014 alone.

Eric Millette, a retired army staff sergeant, became an employee of the charity, but quit after only two years. He commented:

“Let’s get a Mexican mariachi band in there, let’s get maracas made with the WWP logo put them on every staff member’s desk. Lets get it catered, have a big old party. I’ll be damned if you’re gonna take hard-working Americans’ money and drink it and waste it, instead of helping those brave men and women who gave you the freedom to walk the face of this earth.”

CBS News received word from more than 40 former employees about the state of the project’s spending. One recalled:

“It was extremely extravagant. Dinners and alcohol and and [sic], just total excess. I mean, it’s what the military calls fraud, waste, and abuse.”

The lavish partying allegedly began when Nardizzi ascended to CEO of the charity in 2009. An employee complained:

“He rappelled down the side of a building. He’s come in on a Segway. He’s come in on a horse.”

Nardizzi defended the use of the charity’s money:

“If your only fixation is spending the most on programs, that’s feeling good, but not necessarily doing good.”

Among those outraged at the spending are Fred and Dianne Kane, who raised $325,000 with golf tournaments. It came to light that barely over half of that money was used to aid wounded veterans. Fred Kane noted:

“I feel like I am representing all these people who have donated over the years, all these seniors over 65 sending $19 month [sic], all these people on fixed incomes. If no one is going to talk about this right now and it has to be me, then it has to be me.”

CBS News was told that Nardizzi and Giordano may be replaced by retired senior military officers.

Additionally, the charity released a statement regarding the monetary abuse.

Featured image by Mike Mozart, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.