{"slug":"ziklag-eagleai-pipeline","title":"Ziklag and the EagleAI Voter-Challenge Pipeline","subtitle":"A Christian-nationalist charity, a Delaware LLC, and an AI tool for purging voter rolls.","tldr":"Ziklag (legal name USATransForm, EIN 82-4819179) is a Southlake, TX 501(c)(3) whose revenue grew 753% in five years ($1.3M → $11.1M). This investigation traces how Ziklag-aligned dark money flows, via Donors Trust and the Compass Legal Group-created nonprofit 'Valid Vote', into EagleAI, an AI-powered voter-roll challenge system.","publishedAt":null,"updatedAt":"2026-10-17T01:39:32.031Z","url":"https://codyhall.site/investigations/ziklag-eagleai-pipeline","reportUrl":"https://codyhall.site/investigations/ziklag-eagleai-pipeline/report.html","ogImage":"https://codyhall.site/og/investigations/ziklag-eagleai-pipeline.png","topics":["Ziklag","EagleAI","voter challenges","Christian nationalism","Donors Trust"],"diagram":{"caption":"Ziklag donors → Donors Trust → Valid Vote/EagleAI; Compass Legal Group as the formation lawyer.","nodes":[{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221a5","nodeId":"ziklag","label":"Ziklag (USATransForm)","sublabel":"EIN 82-4819179 · $11.1M (2023)","type":"org","x":28,"y":22,"emphasis":"primary","href":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221a6","nodeId":"donors","label":"Donors Trust","sublabel":"EIN 52-2166327","type":"org","x":50,"y":45,"emphasis":"normal","href":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221a7","nodeId":"validvote","label":"Valid Vote","sublabel":"Created by Compass Legal Group","type":"org","x":50,"y":72,"emphasis":"normal","href":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221a8","nodeId":"eagleai","label":"EagleAI","sublabel":"Rick Richards, 2022","type":"org","x":78,"y":80,"emphasis":"normal","href":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221a9","nodeId":"compass-legal","label":"Compass Legal Group","sublabel":"Delaware LLC, Cleta Mitchell","type":"llc","x":80,"y":50,"emphasis":"normal","href":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221aa","nodeId":"ein","label":"Election Integrity Network","sublabel":"Activist training","type":"org","x":80,"y":24,"emphasis":"normal","href":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221ab","nodeId":"uihlein","label":"Uihlein family","sublabel":"Uline, major donor","type":"person","x":14,"y":45,"emphasis":"normal","href":null}],"edges":[{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221ac","from":"uihlein","to":"ziklag","relation":"funds","label":null,"asOf":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221ad","from":"ziklag","to":"donors","relation":"affiliated","label":"donor-network overlap","asOf":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221ae","from":"donors","to":"validvote","relation":"funds","label":"anonymous pass-through","asOf":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221af","from":"validvote","to":"eagleai","relation":"controls","label":"hosts operations","asOf":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221b0","from":"compass-legal","to":"validvote","relation":"founded","label":"formed the entity","asOf":null},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221b1","from":"ein","to":"eagleai","relation":"affiliated","label":"deploys challenges","asOf":null}]},"keyPlayers":[{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221b2","name":"Rick Richards","nodeId":"eagleai","role":"Founder, EagleAI","bio":"Retired Georgia physician who, with his son John, built the AI voter-roll challenge tool now used for mass registration challenges."},{"id":"6a16369b972fef001d7221b3","name":"Cleta Mitchell","nodeId":"compass-legal","role":"Managing member, Compass Legal Group","bio":"Her firm formed Valid Vote; her EIN trains the activists who file EagleAI-generated challenges."}],"sources":[],"fileNo":"CF-0008","fileType":"Investigation","subject":"Rick Richards","narrativeText":"The charity Ziklag operates under the 501(c)(3) USATransForm (EIN 82-4819179, Southlake TX, founded 2018). Its 990s show revenue rising from $1.3M (2018) to $11.1M (2023), a 753% increase. Known donor families include the Uihleins (Uline), Greens (Hobby Lobby), Wallers (Jockey), DeVos (Amway), the Koch network, and Jeff Yass. The tool and its legal shell EagleAI (founded 2022 by retired Georgia physician Rick Richards and his son John) is an AI voter-roll challenge tool. Valid Vote, a nonprofit created by Compass Legal Group, hosts EagleAI operations and accepts dark-money donations without disclosure. Cleta Mitchell's Election Integrity Network trains activists to file the resulting mass challenges. The money path Primary documented pathway: anonymous donors → Donors Trust (EIN 52-2166327) → Valid Vote / EagleAI.","record":{"facts":2,"primaryFacts":2,"sources":18},"evidenceClasses":{"primary":9,"derived":8,"reported":1},"findings":[{"id":36,"statement":"America First Legal lost Bradley Impact Fund and CPI as named grantors after the 2022 mega-grant, and was rebuilt on Donors Trust (a DAF) which scaled grants to AFL 24.7x from 2023 to 2024","state":"verified","confidence":"confirmed","evidenceClass":"primary","marker":"primary","sourceNumbers":[1,2,7,8,10,11,12],"discoveredBy":"human","record":null,"records":null,"ledger":null},{"id":72,"statement":"Documented IRS Schedule I pipeline Ziklag (USATransForm, EIN 824819179) to Conservative Partnership Institute (EIN 821470217) to Compass Legal Group LLC to Valid Vote Inc (EagleAI host, EIN 883506185), with Donors Trust (EIN 522166327) confirmed as a parallel $310,000 disclosed donor to Valid Vote in tax year 2023","state":"verified","confidence":"confirmed","evidenceClass":"primary","marker":"primary","sourceNumbers":[5,6,9,13,14,15,16,17],"discoveredBy":"agent","record":null,"records":null,"ledger":null}],"numberedSources":[{"n":1,"title":"America First Legal Foundation - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica","url":"https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/862190372","domain":"projects.propublica.org","class":"primary","retrievedAt":"2024-12-31T00:00:00.000Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":"EIN 862190372"},{"n":2,"title":"Donors Trust Inc - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica","url":"https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/522166327","domain":"projects.propublica.org","class":"primary","retrievedAt":"2024-12-31T00:00:00.000Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":"EIN 522166327"},{"n":3,"title":"gt990datalake-rawdata.s3.amazonaws.com/EfileData/XmlFiles/202341309349302319_public.xml","url":"https://gt990datalake-rawdata.s3.amazonaws.com/EfileData/XmlFiles/202341309349302319_public.xml","domain":"gt990datalake-rawdata.s3.amazonaws.com","class":"primary","retrievedAt":"2026-07-16T11:28:45.498Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":4,"title":"gt990datalake-rawdata.s3.amazonaws.com/EfileData/XmlFiles/202423189349310807_public.xml","url":"https://gt990datalake-rawdata.s3.amazonaws.com/EfileData/XmlFiles/202423189349310807_public.xml","domain":"gt990datalake-rawdata.s3.amazonaws.com","class":"primary","retrievedAt":"2026-07-16T11:28:45.180Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":5,"title":"Inside Ziklag, the Secret Organization of Wealthy Christians Trying to Sway the Election","url":"https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-ziklag-secret-christian-charity-2024-election","domain":"propublica.org","class":"primary","retrievedAt":"2024-07-13T00:00:00.000Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":6,"title":"Meet 'Eagle AI,' the Cleta Mitchell-Backed MAGA Mass Voter Challenge Tool","url":"https://documented.net/investigations/meet-eagle-ai-the-cleta-mitchell-backed-project-for-maga-activists-to-file-mass-voter-challenges","domain":"documented.net","class":"primary","retrievedAt":"2023-11-01T00:00:00.000Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":7,"title":"Murphy's Law: Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Trump's Disinformation","url":"https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2024/03/19/murphys-law-bradley-foundation-bankrolls-trumps-disinformation/","domain":"urbanmilwaukee.com","class":"primary","retrievedAt":"2024-03-19T00:00:00.000Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":8,"title":"Trump-Aligned Groups Get Big Boost From 'Dark Money' Behemoth (NOTUS)","url":"https://www.notus.org/money/trump-donors-trust-america-first-policy-institute-legal-foundation-donations","domain":"notus.org","class":"primary","retrievedAt":"2025-11-20T00:00:00.000Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":9,"title":"USAtransform - Nonprofit Explorer (Ziklag)","url":"https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824819179","domain":"projects.propublica.org","class":"primary","retrievedAt":"2024-11-15T00:00:00.000Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":10,"title":"Records from IRS Form 990 filings (Schedule I grants), EIN 454678325","url":null,"domain":null,"class":"derived","retrievedAt":"2026-07-16T07:01:45.664Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":"EIN 454678325"},{"n":11,"title":"Records from IRS Form 990 filings (Schedule I grants), EIN 522166327","url":null,"domain":null,"class":"derived","retrievedAt":"2026-07-16T07:01:46.228Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":"EIN 522166327"},{"n":12,"title":"Records from IRS Form 990 filings (Schedule I grants), EIN 522166327","url":null,"domain":null,"class":"derived","retrievedAt":"2026-07-16T07:01:46.838Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":"EIN 522166327"},{"n":13,"title":"Records from public filings","url":null,"domain":null,"class":"derived","retrievedAt":"2026-05-30T09:43:26.157Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":14,"title":"Records from public filings","url":null,"domain":null,"class":"derived","retrievedAt":"2026-05-30T09:43:25.790Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":15,"title":"Records from public filings","url":null,"domain":null,"class":"derived","retrievedAt":"2026-05-30T09:43:25.445Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":16,"title":"Records from public filings","url":null,"domain":null,"class":"derived","retrievedAt":"2026-05-30T09:43:24.686Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null},{"n":17,"title":"Records from public filings, EIN 883506185","url":null,"domain":null,"class":"derived","retrievedAt":"2026-05-30T09:43:25.089Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":"EIN 883506185"},{"n":18,"title":"Ziklag Timeline","url":"https://codyhall.site/sources/investigations/ziklag-eagleai-pipeline/10reports/ziklag-timeline.md","domain":null,"class":"reported","retrievedAt":"2026-03-14T03:05:07.000Z","sha256Prefix":null,"anchor":null}]}