How a Simple Question Became a Cross-State Tax Question
I asked who paid for a lawsuit. I got a Kansas nonprofit with zero members and a $397,605.92 tab that is now paid and closed at zero.
I was not trying to start a tax case. Dr. Finch and I just wanted to know who else paid for his case, and if they got something back for it.
The answer was the Dormant Commerce Clause Association of America. Formed in Kansas on March 22, 2022. Executive director: Ben Stelter-Embry. Resident agent: Green Leaf Legal, LLC.
Its annual report filed July 5, 2023, shows 0 members. Zero. A charity with no members is not a charity. It is a costume with a bank account. Kansas later showed it as forfeited for failing to file. Even the paperwork gave up.
Eimer Stahl billed that Association, attention Benjamin Stelter-Embry, Green Leaf Legal, in Kansas City. Five invoices, April through August 2022, for Juan Finch Jr. and Mark Toigo, cannabis licensing litigation. Total billed: $397,605.92. In some places, that is a house.
Then Birk closed the loop on October 26, 2026. His email says the Association paid Juan's fees until Eimer Stahl was replaced as counsel, with Mark Toigo as joint client. His closeout letter the same day says the final statement was rendered and there is no outstanding balance.
Put them together: Association paid, no outstanding bills. Paid. Zero. Not pending. Not a maybe. Not we will see.
Then an attorney killed the whole mystery in one sentence. Wait. They created a not for profit company to push money to, to fund third party legal fees, and Bob Fitzsimmons admitted under oath they sent it through that charity. You realize what that is, right?
Yeah. That is the whole fucking story in one sentence.
Now the quick legal shit. Paying a lawsuit through a nonprofit is not automatically illegal. Real public interest cases exist. But a 501(c)(3) has to serve the public, not a private payday. If you earmark cash for a named person and run it through a charity, the IRS calls that a gift to that person, not a charity. If the charity just forwards money on orders, it is a pass-through, not a purpose.
So the question is simple. Public good, or private benefit with a Kansas address?
I do not have the papers that settle it yet. No IRS determination letter. No donor list. No deduction proof. So I am not calling it fraud publicly. I am calling it a hell of a question that smells really fishy. But let’s be honest if you opened it for this case, closed it after Juan sued, and acted like it didn’t exist… it sires looks to me like this was used for personal benefit not the great good.
On October 30, 2026, I filed a Charity Fraud Investigate Request with the Kansas Attorney General, and an IRS Form 3949-A Information Referral. That is not a win. That is a ticket in line. A filing is not a finding.
Wait shouldn’t IDFPR have flagged this annually? Shouldn’t they see this on their financials or taxes? Or did IDFPR approve of the fraud and ignore it because maybe they were aware of it? Well, only one way to find out.
Here is the closer. OEIG sent my previous complaints back to IDFPR on May 15, 2026, and September 18, 2026. So will OEIG actually investigate federal fraud by a regulator, or send it back to the regulator I allege covered it up and committed fraud on behalf of those it was supposed to regulate?
That is returning a broken toaster to the store that sold you the broken toaster.
Zero members. Zero balance. Watch what OEIG, Kansas Ag, and the IRS does next. I will.