 On 23 February 2009, the Virginia Division of Consumer Protection barred USNVA from soliciting for donations because it had failed to register as a charity and to make the necessary financial disclosures.Samuel F. Wright, a Washington-based lawyer, was retained to get the USNVA the right to solicit in Virginia, and he worked with a man who claimed to be Bobby Thompson, the Chief Financial Officer of USNVA.When asked by the "St. Petersburg Times" whether Wright had ever spoken with anyone at the USNVA other than Thompson, Wright refused to answer citing attorney-client privilege.