A screenshot from the RNC’s livestream of the August 2020 Republican National Convention, which was held virtually, and during which then-president Donald Trump pardoned Jon Ponder.(Photo Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via Getty Images)
A former official of the nonprofit Hope for Prisoners is asking a Nevada court to force the group to release documents that could detail misconduct by the group’s high-profile founder.
HFP’s former chief operating officer Grant McCandless is suing the nonprofit, a widely lauded re-entry program for individuals recently released from prison, for wrongful termination. He says he was dismissed in 2020 even though an internal investigation had cleared him of wrongdoing after a complaint of racism.
Now, he is asking the court to force the release, among other documents, of a report written by attorney Lynne McChrystal of Jackson Lewis, who had been hired in the summer of 2020 to investigate complaints against Hope for Prisoners founder Jon Ponder.
The HFP board hired McChrystal to investigate allegations against Ponder, according to a former HFP board member granted anonymity by the Current in order to obtain sensitive information.
The attorney “was hired because there was a lot of controversy,” the former board member said. “There were different factions who had their own opinions about what was going on with Jon. It was kind of a tumultuous time.”
Hope For Prisoners has received considerable attention, and money from both the state and federal governments. Ponder came to national attention after then-President Donald Trump granted him a pardon, during the 2020 Republican National Convention, for past convictions for bank robbery. Ponder has also been convicted of domestic violence.
The group’s board at the time included a number of prominent officials including Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, Sheriff Kevin McMahill (who was undersheriff at the time), former Gov. Robert List and former Sheriff Bill Young. All have since left the board and declined to be interviewed about the lawsuit or Ponder.
The District Attorney’s office and Metro, under then-Sheriff Joe Lombardo’s watch and later, under McMahill’s, declined to provide the Current with HFP board correspondence about Ponder sent in 2020 to former board members Wolfson and McMahill at their government email addresses. The agencies maintain the correspondence was sent to the officials in their private capacity, and their release is not required under the state’s public records law.
McCandless is asking the court to force Hope for Prisoners to release that correspondence.
The D.A. has a partnership with HFP, as does the state, which has expanded its program with HFP during Lombardo’s tenure.
Among the items McCandless, who is representing himself, is seeking, according to a Motion to Compel the production of documents, is a “letter written by Kristina Wildeveld to the Board in September 2020 informing the Board of allegations of sexual misconduct with clients, mentors, and/or employees of the Company by Jon Ponder, CEO of the Company.”
Wildeveld, a Las Vegas attorney and former HFP board member, has declined to discuss the letter with the Current, citing board confidentiality.
Despite his high profile, Ponder has long been at the center of suspicions and allegations of misconduct. In fact, at the time Trump granted him the pardon, Ponder was on suspension from his position during an investigation, although there is no sign that the then-president was aware of it at the time.
Ponder and his attorneys did not respond to requests for interviews about the lawsuit or past complaints.
The board in 2020 also investigated allegations leveled by former staff member Rodney Taylor, who alleged Ponder gave favorable treatment to female employees, according to the former board member.
“Eventually, the harassment and promises not kept, threats, and witnessing inappropriate behavior with female staff, mentors, Hope graduates, and donors surpassed my boundaries of acceptable behavior in the workplace,” Taylor wrote to the board in May 2020, in a letter that is included in the pleadings.
The investigations culminated in the board’s decision to relieve Ponder of his title as CEO and of his ability to hire and fire, the source said.
But the board, aware that Trump intended to expand Hope for Prisoners nationwide if re-elected, backed down from its commitment to demote Ponder after the pardon, the source said.
“Donald Trump and Jon were pretty tight. Jon was on a board that President Trump had that met back in Washington D.C. on sentencing guidelines,” the source said. “Trump even came to one of our graduations.”
“I have no comment about any investigation(s) into Jon Ponder,” Fasulo, the board’s chairman at the time, said Thursday via email.
McCandless is dismissed
At issue in the lawsuit is how McCandless left the organization.
In September 2020, one of Ponder’s longtime associates, Carolyn Willis, alleged racism against McCandless. McCandless said he got a call from Fasulo, who told him he was suspended without pay pending an investigation. McChrystal of Jackson Lewis was again commissioned by the board to investigate, according to McCandless..
“In October, Fasulo called and said he had good news and bad news. The good news was the investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing or racism. The bad news was Jon Ponder didn’t want me to return to work,” said McCandless. “My employment would be terminated at the end of October, despite the negative outcome of the investigation.”
In the ensuing months, most of HFP’s dozen board members resigned, including Fasulo, McMahill, Wolfson, former Metro Sheriff Bill Young, former Gov. Bob List, and Wildeveld, who is Ponder’s former attorney.
“It was almost a complete turnover during that period of time with a number of resignations during 2020 and into 2021,” HFP’s grant manager Jay Barbeau said in a March deposition. By 2021, only two board members remained from the previous year.
McCandless wants to know if the exodus of board members stemmed from his termination, or from the investigation of Ponder and the board’s lack of follow-through on sanctions. He notes that although he wasn’t officially fired by Ponder, Fasulo told him it was Ponder’s desire to have him gone.
Fasulo said it would be improper for him to comment.
Suing HFP was not an easy decision, said McCandless, who said ultimately he was persuaded to proceed by what he calls ethical transgressions on Ponder’s part, such as instructing staff to contribute a minimum of $25 a month to HFP.
“I sat on the idea for a long time and I decided nonprofits enjoy privileges that we, the public, have given them,” he said. “They don’t pay sales or income tax, and in exchange we expect them, as our agents, to effectively run programs that serve the public good. When they don’t, when they’re not good stewards of what we’ve entrusted them with, they ought to be held accountable.”
McCandless says Ponder’s door bears a sign that says “Godly leadership makes the difference.”
“It makes you wonder what that phrase means to him,” McCandless said.
On Tuesday, Judge Gloria Sturman is scheduled to rule on Ponder’s motion for summary judgment. Another hearing on McCandless’s motion to compel discovery, which Sturman declined to hear first, is scheduled next week.
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