An urgent request appeared last July on the Facebook page of Trans Heartland, a Kansas-based transgender advocacy group. A young trans adult needed $289 after getting a traffic ticket for not having vehicle insurance.

“Donate if you can please,” the post said, followed by a heart emoji. Nearly $300 in contributions arrived.

But Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach now alleges the group’s executive director diverted those funds – and more than $11,000 in other donations – for personal benefit.

Kobach’s office filed a civil lawsuit in Johnson County District Court in early April against Trans Heartland and its director, Justin Brace. According to Kobach, Brace and Trans Heartland breached its fiduciary duty and failed to register the group as required by the state’s charitable organizations law.

According to the lawsuit, a trans adult really did get cited for failing to have insurance, but it was the executive director. Over months, thousands of dollars in donations were deposited into the director’s personal bank accounts and used for personal purposes, the lawsuit alleges.

The legal challenge follows an investigation by the Kansas Attorney General’s Office that began as a complaint about Trans Heartland submitted to Kobach just after midnight on July 12, 2024. In the 10 months since, Trans Heartland effectively imploded as an organization. Last month, Brace filed paperwork to dissolve the group, which listed an Overland Park office address.

“Defendants intentionally obfuscated the intended beneficiary and falsified the context of the solicitations to mislead donors,” a motion for a temporary restraining order filed by First Assistant Attorney General Nathaniel Castillo reads. “There was no ‘trans youth,’ separate and apart from Defendants.”

Kobach, a Republican, has fought to roll back trans rights since taking office in 2023. He sued to prevent Kansas residents from changing the gender on their drivers’ licenses and fought to stop state officials from changing gender markers on birth certificates. Like many Republicans, he also supported efforts to prevent trans athletes from competing in women’s sports.

The lawsuit against Trans Heartland represents one of just two legal petitions filed by Kobach during his time in office, alleging violations of the Kansas Charitable Organizations and Solicitations Act, or KCOSA. He filed another four petitions for consent judgments related to alleged violations of the law that are related to former Overland Park police officers accused of misusing police charity funds.

A Kobach spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.

One Kansas City-based attorney with extensive experience in nonprofit law and charitable fundraising said Kobach’s legal challenge appears normal. Errol Copilevitz, an attorney who specializes in tax-exempt organizations, said instances of failing to register or misusing funds are more common than people might expect.

“As much as I’d like to criticize Kobach or his office, there’s nothing to criticize. This is a proper function of that office,” Copilevitz said.

Trans Heartland was a relatively new presence in the trans advocacy community in the Kansas City area. Brace incorporated the organization in April 2023, and it maintained an active social media presence, building a following of several hundred on Facebook and 1,300 on Instagram.

Brace also spoke out on trans issues. In a February interview with The Star, Brace said anti-LGBTQ+ legislation such as Kansas’ gender-affirming care ban for minors is a direct threat to the lives and wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable people in the state.

Brace independently published a book, “Love Letters to Trans Youth from Trans Adults,” in February 2024, according to an Amazon listing that promises “love letters filled with love, hope, and advice for the younger generation.”

An author bio describes Brace as an intersex trans man from a small town in Kansas and as the director of Trans Heartland. The bio says Brace lives in Colorado.

Brace didn’t agree to an interview or provide comment for this story.

When Brace filed to dissolve Trans Heartland on April 17, the document listed Brace and two other members on the organization’s board of directors. Both listed Colorado Springs addresses. The Star located a phone number for one of the directors, who didn’t return a voicemail seeking comment on Tuesday.

Complaint launched investigation

Kobach launched his investigation of Trans Heartland after his office received a complaint that alleged Brace was “ill-intentionally living off the donations of honest, hardworking Kansans,” according to a redacted copy of the complaint provided to The Star by the Kansas Attorney General’s Office.

The complainant, whose identity is redacted, didn’t donate to Trans Heartland but referred to “troves of evidence from various, reputable sources who have donated, volunteered, and/or interacted with this nonprofit.”

According to an affidavit filed in court by an investigator in the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, Trans Heartland solicited donations through Facebook, Instagram and its website. The organization also solicited contributions at several area events, including the 2023 Gardner Pride Celebration, the 2024 Olathe Pride event and other gatherings across Kansas.

Trans Heartland has a Bank of America account that was never used, according to the affidavit. Instead, all donations went to Brace’s personal Capitol Federal account or Bank of America account.

Charitable funds would be withdrawn or spent on personal expenses with no corresponding charitable expenses recorded by Brace, the document says. “In multiple instances, charitable funds were exhausted before new deposits were made,” the affidavit says.

Even as Kobach’s investigation continued, critics of Trans Heartland began raising concerns publicly. A social media account, Stop Trans Heartland, posted a screenshot of Trans Heartland’s now-deleted post seeking $289 for court costs with the caption, “This is fraud.”

Johnson County District Court records show the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office cited Brace on July 23 for not having vehicle liability insurance. Trans Heartland’s post referred only to helping a trans young adult and didn’t specify that Brace had received the citation.

Trans Heartland’s Venmo account received several donations earmarked for the citation and court costs, according to the affidavit, which says several transfers were then made to Brace’s personal account from the organization’s Venmo account. Brace’s personal account was then used to pay the court costs, according to a bank statement.

“BRACE misrepresented the plight of real transgendered persons by creating at least one fictional story of a transgendered person in need of financial help/suffering from financial hardship on social media; constituting the use of deceptive acts and practices by employing lies of omission and ambiguity of material facts to solicit charitable donations to be made to TKF that may not have otherwise been donated,” the affidavit says.

TKF refers to Transgender Kansas Foundation, the full legal name of Trans Heartland.

No hearings have yet been set in the lawsuit. Kobach wants a judge to ban Brace from doing business in Kansas and require payment of at least $11,762 in damages, in addition to a $10,000 fine for each violation found of the Kansas Charitable Organizations and Solicitations Act.

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—The Star’s Eleanor Nash and Matthew Kelly contributed reporting

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