Wounded Warrior Project accused of out-of-control spending on parties, meetings

While doing research for an investigative exposé, CBS News says it spoke with more than 40 former employees of the Wounded Warrior Project who said the charity spends millions of dollars in donations on lavish conferences and events.

In 2013, Erick Millette, who served in Iraq and came home with PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, took a job as a speaker with the Wounded Warrior Project after receiving its services. He said he quit two years later, disillusioned by events where money was spent on over-the-top dinners, with live entertainment, alcohol, and swag. "You're using our injuries, our darkest days, our hardships, to make money," he told CBS News. "So you can have these big parties." He said the charity held events at expensive hotels, and even if people lived in the area they were told they had to spend the night.

According to public records, the Wounded Warrior Project spends 60 percent of its budget on veterans, compared with the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service, which spends 96 percent of its budget on vets, and the Fisher House, which spends 91 percent. In 2014, the charity received more than $300 million in donations, CBS News reports. Tax forms show that in 2010, Wounded Warriors spent $1.7 million on conferences and meetings, with that number jumping to $26 million in 2014, the same amount of money the charity spends on its top program, combat stress recovery.

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Former Wounded Warrior Project employees told CBS News that the copious spending started when Steven Nardizzi became CEO in 2009. One ex-employee points to the 2014 annual meeting as proof that the organization's spending is out of control, saying it spent $3 million to host 500 employees at a luxury Colorado Springs resort for four days. The source said Nardizzi at one point "rappelled down a building," and later "came in on a horse."

Wounded Warrior Project's director of alumni, Capt. Ryan Kules, told CBS News that "it's the best use of donor dollars to ensure we are providing programs and services to our warriors and families at the highest quality." Kules said the organization does not spend money on alcohol, and while he said he didn't attend the Colorado conference and doesn't know how much it cost, he knows it wasn't $3 million.