ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A charity run by Commissioner Mayra Uribe’s husband, Kevin Sutton, is now the center of a complaint filed with the Florida Ethics Commission.
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The Florida Ethics Commission received a complaint filed against Commissioner Mayra Uribe this week.
The complaint claims Uribe misused her position as Commissioner by advertising the charity, All Star Dads, and accuses her of bolstering her household income.
Uribe says all the claims made in the complaint are false. She called the complaint a “political attack” and “witch hunt.”
Meanwhile, 9 Investigates learned her husband’s charity has bigger problems.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revoked the charity’s tax exemption status.
On the charity’s Facebook page, All Star Dads prides itself on its mission to provide a network and program to educate fathers through classes like Boot Camp for Dads. It says it’s a not-for-profit.
However, according to the IRS website, it is no longer a 501(c)(3). The tax exemption status was automatically revoked May 15 this year and posted to the IRS site last week.
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According to the IRS, this happens when an organization does not file “a Form 990-series return or notice for three consecutive years.”
We looked on the IRS site. It shows no tax documents posted since 2020.
The IRS requires charitable organizations to submit annually.
“It acts as a means of oversight for the proper agencies at the state and federal level, but also a means of accountability for people who are giving their hard-earned money to charities,” said Robert Maguire with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
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Maguire says this raises questions like whether All Star Dads are following the correct filing procedures.
“If they’re not doing their due diligence, what is the money being used for? How is it being spent?” Maguire said.
On top of that, 9 Investigates confirmed All Star Dads is not registered to solicit donations and fundraise in the state of Florida.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said the charity’s registration to solicit donations expired in October 2019.
9 Investigates found there’s been fundraisers since 2019 and even after May 15, 2024, when the IRS says the charity was no longer tax exempt.
All Star Dads held its third annual Fatherhood Breakfast Fundraiser on June 19. On the flyer, it’s advertised as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and says all proceeds would continue to fund various programs through All Star Dads.
“If a group has received an order revocation, If they do still want to operate, their first step should be to try to work with the IRS to resolve whatever issue they have,” Maguire said. “If they don’t do that, it seems to me that they would not be able to legally operate as a charity after that order revocation. Because they do not, in the eyes of the IRS, still have 501(c)(3) status.”
We asked Kevin Sutton with All Star Dads for an interview and if he could provide tax documents today.
We also asked why the organization held the June fundraiser knowing All Star Dads was no longer a 501(c)(3).
He claimed over text, he had all the information we requested—including “bank statements, expenditures and tax reports.”
Sutton said he would not send the documents to 9 Investigates before our story aired.
He says he plans to hold a press conference at a later date.
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