Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Things have been going in the opposite direction for Kurt Busch and Patricia Driscoll. Following the couples split last year Driscoll made claims that she was involved in a domestic abuse incident with Busch. Although that claim never resulted in charges, a family court did rule in favor of Driscoll (handing down an order of protection) and Busch was ultimately suspended by NASCAR.
In the aftermath of it being announced that Busch was not going to be charged with a crime it appeared as though the two of them would return to their normal lives. Busch returned to the track where he maintained his innocence and looked to try to move past the allegations. Driscoll returned to her everyday life where she maintained that her account of the events was correct and that she had been a victim of domestic abuse.
Since that point things have gone great for Busch. After missing three races to start the season Busch has won twice in the last 12 events. The two wins not only secure his spot in the chase but it has also moved him up to 11th in the points and place him into a tie with Kevin Harvick for the second-most wins in the series behind Jimmie Johnson.
Driscoll on the other hand has not had the same fortune. Since Busch was reinstated to NASCAR she has gone on record and condemned NASCAR for allowing Busch to return to the sport. In some ways she has also condemned anyone who has supported Busch along the way.
Last week things got even worse for Driscoll when Outside The Lines confirmed through their sources that Driscoll is being investigated by the FBI and the IRS. According to a recent report from ESPN and OTL, the investigation is over allegations she has mishandled money as executive director of the multimillion-dollar Armed Forces Foundation. Below are some of the key points that were highlighted in the OTL and ESPN report.
- Documents show the Armed Forces Foundation had, in effect, been repeatedly used as a bank to lend money for or pay various personal expenses, including bills for a private company Driscoll owns.
- The nonprofit’s federal tax filings and audit reports in some instances fail to match, resulting in unexplained discrepancies about the amount of cash on hand, the mismatches totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- Until May 4, the foundation paid Driscoll and another person $96,000 in annual rent for its headquarters — a building they co-owned — which is operating in apparent violation of Washington zoning regulations.
The report by OTL further paints Driscoll in a negative light by confirming that the FBI has several documents that show Driscoll used the foundation for her own personal gain. Some of those documents reportedly illustrate the foundation paying $15,000 for her legal fees in her child-custody case, more than $6,000 for security equipment that was shipped to her home, over $100,000 in credit card bills for her personal business (those bills included things like groceries, personal medical expenses and toy store purchases). All of this was on top of the reported $171,000 salary that the foundation was paying her.
It should be noted that Driscoll and her camp have denied everything that was uncovered by ESPN and OTL and they have referred to the report as “shameful.” It’s also worth noting that her camp has gone on record as saying that the only connection Driscoll has to sports is her having been the victim of domestic violence at the hands of a professional athlete.
ESPN and OTL are standing behind their sources and their report despite Driscoll and her camp saying that none of it is true.
Next: Understanding Why The Family Court Ruled Against Kurt Busch And For Patricia Driscoll