Bonta announced the lawsuit against the California Equine Retirement Foundation and its executive director Carrie Ard for multiple violations of state charity laws and self-dealing by Ard.
The now-defunct organization was a charity that focused on the care of retired race horses. CERF failed to comply with registration and reporting requirements which led to the revocation of the foundation’s charity status in 2017.
Despite the foundation’s charity registration being revoked, Ard continued to live on its property for free and attempted to sell it in January of this year for more than 2 million dollars.
Bonta is seeking the involuntary dissolution of the charity and the transfer of the 29-acre ranch to a charity with a similar mission.