A website purporting to help Navy SEALs was downed Thursday and again Friday after The Special Operations Forces Report website ? SOFREP.com ? made some bombshell charges that the site ? SupportTheSEALs.org ? is not a legitimate non-profit organization nor a legally registered business.
SOFREP alleged the organization capitalized on the growth of charities established to support former Navy SEALs and their families? needs. The founder of the organization, Graham Ware, told TheBlaze that his?volunteer-based organization does not handle donated funds and therefore is not required to register as a non-profit organization.
Jeffrey Carr, a cybersecurity analyst and founder/CEO of Taia Global, calls up in his post on SOFREP?instances where it appears SupportTheSeals.org misrepresented itself.
TheBlaze spoke with Ware though Facebook messages and over the phone to respond to these allegations and to clarify the legal status of Support the Seals and the organization?s function.
(Image: @NavySEALsOrg/Twitter)
The short of his answer is that he and his colleagues work as volunteers and that SOFREP has ?zero proof? that the organization makes any money whatsoever. Ware wrote that he believes the ?truth will come out.?
Here?s the whole of what Ware wrote to TheBlaze in a Facebook message:
[...] the fact is there is no damages ? we dont make money and they have ZERO PROOF OF THAT! The domains were registered legally but only for a period of 13 weeks and look at the traffic hits? less that [sic] 6 unique visitors. There was no malice to this in fact we worked with the gentleman who brought forth this outrageous claim. We gave them over $26K and have two SEALs Chris Withrow and Matt McCabe who are now co-owners ? we are volunteer based but check out the documents under Our Responds [sic] on our homepage. The truth will come out. These are downright untrue claims backed with sensationalism.
The Allegations
So what is the evidence against Ware?s group? SOFREP?s post begins in a fact-check format, starting with things Ware has said, which then Carr debunks. Carr writes:
1.?Ware claims that Support The Seals is a registered LLC in Arizona. (Source: the SupportTheSeals.org Twitter profile -@NavySEALsOrg)
FALSE.?The State of Arizona shows a ?pending? LLC application which basically just reserves the name until 1/20/13 (Source:?Arizona Corporation Commission). The company itself doesn?t legally exist yet nor did it exist since Ware began his fundraising in 2009, which raises serious tax questions.
2.?Ware claimed to be a non-profit organization in June, 2012 on his Facebook page ?Navy SEAL Fund.org?.
FALSE.?There?s no official business entity registered in Arizona called Navy SEAL Fund let alone one that?s a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation.
Screenshot of the Support the SEALs Facebook page.
Carr goes on to point out a small difference pertaining to this latter point that seems to be distinguishing the website from a legitimate Navy SEALs support organization ??NavySEALsFund.org?? which is a non-profit assisting military members and their families. Drop the ?s,? though, and enter it into the search bar, and it would redirect you to SupportTheSeals.org. This doesn?t work now, but Carr includes a YouTube video showing the difference. Check it out:
After SOFREP?s allegations, the servers of SupportTheSeals.org were overloaded with traffic downing the site until Thursday night. After the post was published, Ware wrote the following on Twitter account:
(Image: @NavySEALs.org Twitter screenshot)
In addition, SOFREP?s editor-in-chief provided us with another tweet that he says Ware sent but has since deleted that could have been part of an earlier defense:
(Image: @BrandonTWebb Twitter screenshot)
Who is Ware and what is SupportTheSeals.org?
According to his LinkedIn profile, Ware is an Arizona State University graduate who began SupportTheSeals.org three years ago. On LinkedIn he describes it as an ?established reputable organization leading fundraising, advocacy & support for our former, fallen & active duty US Navy SEALs & their families.? The Twitter account for @NavySEALs.org, which has SupportTheSeals.org as its website, states the operation is owned and operated by SEALs and civilians.
Ware told TheBlaze he volunteers for Support the SEALs ? as do all those who help the organization ? and works fulltime elsewhere. SEALs in the organization include?Chris Withrow and Matt McCabe.
Graham Ware (Image via SOFREP)
According to SupportTheSeals.org and the Arizona Corporation Commission, the organization is still a pending LLC, with its application submitted Sept. 21.
In 2009, Human Events reported Ware?s success?on social media rallying Facebook users to support SEALs who were being criminally prosecuted. Human Events stated Ware?s Facebook page was growing by the 10s of thousands each day in support of the SEALs.
Here you can watch Ware talk on a local news channel about the 2009 prosecution of three SEALs, which Carr points out was eventually dropped, and hear him talk about why he started getting involved in a SEALs support effort:
Ware said the money raised for the legal expenses of these SEALs was given to the Navy SEALs Fund, which it was working closely with at the time. The success at helping rally a community around this cause inspired Ware, he said, to continue raising awareness and helping support events through social media and marketing that would aid SEALs and their families. Ware said when SupportTheSeals.org is involved in an event, they do not handle the money but work with a coordinating organization if donations are being accepted.
Ware?s Defense
Ware said the money raised in 2009 went through Human Events, who helped organize the fundraiser.
?[It] never passed through us,? Ware said. ?We have everything legally disclosed on our website ? we are volunteer based so yes when all of these allegations came out ? SEALs came to our defense and now we have had to form an LLC.?
With regard to the domain names that were similar to the Navy SEALs Fund, Ware said his organization purchased domain names, but did not do anything with them. They redirected to SupportTheSeals.org because it was the site associated with them, he said. Once the Navy SEALs Fund called them out with a cease and desist order for the name and logos being similar, Ware gave up the domain name.
Ware sent TheBlaze letters from his lawyer Laura Brooks from Titus Brueckner & Levine showing correspondence to NavySEALsFund.org asking that they retract their cease and?desist?order as well as defamatory statements against SupportTheSEALs.org.
On SupportTheSeals.org, for which the website is currently functioning, there is a ?contribute? page and button. On the page, it is explained that SupportTheSeals.org is not a non-profit and that they are seeking approved LLC status. The actual button will take you to an inactive PayPal page. Ware said after LLC status is granted, the organization may choose to allow for contributions through PayPal that would help put on events that would raise money or awareness for SEALs and their families.
For now, though as the SupportTheSeals.org continues the legal process of becoming a legitimate corporation, Ware said he is taking some of the accusations to court and notes that he is ?confident? they will win the case. He said he is ?disheartened? such claims have been made against Support the SEALs in the first place but that they?re not going to give up because ?we didn?t do anything wrong.?
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