by Seamus Bruner at Just the News
Stacey Abrams’ net worth skyrocketed over 2,800% in just three years thanks in part to her holdings in a company called Now Corp. (previously called NowAccount or “Now”), a Government Accountability Institute study has found.
In 2018, Abrams reported a net worth of just $109,000 in her personal financial disclosure ahead of her failed 2018 gubernatorial bid in Georgia. Now, as she heads into the 2022 gubernatorial race, Abrams’ campaign filings show her net worth is more than $3.17 million after making more than $6 million in book advances, speaking deals and growing corporate investments like NowAccount.
Abrams cofounded the NowAccount financial technology (“fintech”) start-up in 2010 with business partners Lara Hodgson and John Hayes. Their business got off to a slow start, but NowAccount was able to pay Abrams $80,000 in salary in her first year as senior vice president and $60,000 per year in subsequent years.
In 2013, Abrams’ fintech company pulled in just $100,000 in annual revenue, but thanks to a federal small business loan program overseen by the state of Georgia, NowAccount would soon have the power to distribute nearly $10 million in taxpayer funds to its network of applicants. By 2016, NowAccount’s applicants were defaulting on their loans, and taxpayers were left to bail out more than $1.5 million in bad loans.
In 2018, the year Abrams ran for Georgia governor the first time, NowAccount paid her nearly $300,000—a dramatic increase—her financial disclosure shows.
NowAccount’s value spiked in October 2021 after a $29 million financing and investment deal that the company made with two private equity firms. Abrams, who has owned as much as 16% of NowAccount, announced her 2022 bid for governor on Dec. 1 — less than eight weeks after the $29 million windfall.
Abrams was the minority leader of the Georgia House from 2011 until she resigned ahead of her 2018 run for governor. The fact that her business got federally backed state contracts while she held high-level positions in the state Legislature drew sharp criticism during her first gubernatorial campaign in 2018. Abrams told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she “played no role in securing the state contracts” for NowAccount and that she “scrupulously avoided conflicts of interest,” the outlet reported in 2018.
The decision to apply for taxpayer funding…
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