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Wounded Warrior Project fires back at CBS News investigation

Wounded Warrior Project is firing back after a CBS News investigation revealed lavish spending on conferences and high salaries for top leaders.

On Wednesday night, CBS News revealed there is a nearly half million dollar surplus, and former employees say that surplus should be used to help veterans now.

That money sits in a reserve account, while the organization is out there asking for more donations.

While the CEO isn’t defending the spending, another spokesman for the organization is.

While CEO Steven Nardizzi was nowhere to be found for an interview about the allegations of lavish spending, spokesman Dan Nevins answered our questions.

“I sleep like a baby at night knowing this organization is here,” Nevins said.

A veteran himself, he says he received services from the organization before he started working for them.

“Every dollar that comes in is used extremely wisely,” Nevins said.

But many have questions about how the organization operates.

Ric Lehman, executive director of Haven Horse Ranch in St. Johns County, said twice in the last five years, they went to Wounded Warrior Project offering free horse therapy services for veterans.

“We had to pay to provide services to them, so we said ‘thank you but no thank you,’” Lehman said. “I was amazed. My first thought was they didn’t understand. I wasn’t asking for something. We wanted to give them something. We wanted to provide services for the people they were trying to help.”

Nardizzi has been the head of the Wounded Warrior Project since 2009. Tuesday a CBS News investigation reported that the spending under his leadership went from $1.7 million in 2010 to $26 million in 2014 for conferences and meetings.

Nardizzi’s salary is nearly half a million dollars. He defended that to a Norfolk affiliate last April and said the more money they raise, the money they can spend on veterans.

“My salary is less than 1/10 of 1 percent of the donations that come in, and I’m running an organization that is helping hundreds of thousands of warriors,” Nardizzi said. “If your only fixation is spending the most on programs, that’s feeling good, but not necessarily doing good.”

Former employees maintain lavish parties, like the one in Colorado where they say Nardizzi rappelled down the side of the hotel, aren’t helping veterans.

But Nevins said otherwise.

“There was nothing lavish. It was a place to lay our heads,” Nevins said.

Action News Jax asked Wounded Warrior Project about its practice of asking people for money when offered free programs like the organization in St. Johns County did.

A representative said they’re working on getting an answer.