Donations for Ukraine spent on pizzas and payment to convicted felon, former Mriya Report official alleges

Some donations collected for Ukraine by the Mriya Report were spent on pizzas, purchases at Home Depot, as well as unauthorized payments to volunteers and to a convicted felon linked to Donald Trump, a former top official with the nonprofit organization alleges.

Questions have been swirling around the Mriya Report, founded by Canadian Forces Capt. Joseph Friedberg, since September 2024 when its 24 volunteers abruptly resigned. They issued a statement at the time noting that “various ethical concerns” prompted their decision to sever all ties with the nonprofit.

But in a Jan. 1, 2026 broadcast on the social media platform X, Ryan Meyer, a co-founder of the Mriya Report, outlined the numerous allegations of financial improprieties surrounding the organization.

“It kind of breaks my heart that an organization that I thought was supposed to be helping people in (Ukraine) turned out to be enriching a Canadian,” Meyer said of Friedberg.

More than 27,000 listeners tuned in to Meyer’s broadcast.

Friedberg did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But in a Nov. 17, 2022 email to the Ottawa Citizen, Friedberg noted he operates “an online information space that speaks to Ukrainians” – a reference to the Mriya Report. “I receive no money…none of the volunteers touch money,” he added.

Scott Harper, who is listed in a recent document as the Mriya Report president, did not respond to requests for comment.

Meyer said he resigned from Mriya Report because of his ongoing concerns about the financial irregularities he alleges were linked to Friedberg.

Other former Mriya Report volunteers also went on the X broadcast to raise concerns about what they alleged were serious managerial and accountability issues with the nonprofit organization. The allegations from Meyer and the volunteers have not been verified.

Meyer published pages of Mriya Report’s bank statements, which showed various payments for gas at stations in the Toronto area, purchases at Best Buy and Home Depot, car rentals in Ontario, as well as purchases of pizzas. Meyer alleged that tens of thousands of dollars were spent on storage units in Canada, an expense that he stated appeared to have no link to helping Ukraine.

Meyer also took issue with the payments of more than $50,000 U.S. to various officials on the Mriya Report’s board. He stated the founding charter of the Mriya Report, which he authorized, stipulated that no official or volunteer was to be paid. The focus of the U.S.-registered nonprofit was to direct all money to support Ukraine, he added.

Other payments, Meyer said, were made to volunteers and various individuals to host or appear on the Mriya Report. That was not allowed under its founding charter, he noted. Those included a payment of $2,000 U.S. to Pekka Kallioniemi, who is described as a disinformation expert.

But Meyer said it was a payment to Lev Parnas, who was born in the former Soviet Union, and who was linked to Donald Trump’s efforts to put pressure on Ukraine, which angered many volunteers.

An earlier mass exodus of volunteers happened “when Joe decided to pay Lev Parnas, the convicted felon,” Meyer said on the broadcast.

Parnas, an associate of Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, was found guilty in a U.S. court on six counts related to illegal donations to Trump’s campaign. In 2022, Parnas was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Parnas has publicly acknowledged receiving a payment from the Mriya Report to become a speaker for the nonprofit. It is unclear how much money was paid.

It is also unclear if the Mriya Report is still actively collecting funds. It is listed in a U.S. Internal Revenue Service form filed in October 2025 as being located in San Rafael, California. The address appears to be a private post office outlet. There was no response to requests for comment that were sent to Mriya Report’s email address and phone number.

Meyer noted that Mriya Report financial statements, filed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, were recently made public by ProPublica, an investigative news outlet in the U.S.

They show Mriya Report had revenue of $399,430 U.S. in 2023 and $368,783 U.S. in 2024. Neither Meyer nor Friedberg took any direct compensation for filling their board member jobs, according to the IRS filing.

In an Oct. 3, 2024 statement in response to ongoing online criticism, the Mriya Report acknowledged some of the co-hosts on its site were paid stipends ranging from $1,000 to $2,100, with the money coming from private donors who wished to cover operational costs. The statement noted that once money ran out, it was decided to take money from public donations to the Mriya Report to cover such operational and overhead costs.

Friedberg was also associated in 2022 with Mriya Aid, a not-for-profit organization in Ottawa created by Lt. Col. Melanie Lake and other Canadian Forces officers.

In 2023, the Ottawa Citizen reported on allegations of mismanagement and wrongdoing after Ukrainians and former Mriya Aid volunteers came forward with their concerns.

The New York Times also wrote about the situation with Mriya Aid in a larger article that highlighted ongoing problems with volunteer efforts for Ukraine.

In January 2023, Friedberg raised the ire of Ukrainians after the Mriya Report threatened to sue a Ukrainian journalist, turned medic, who has been providing first aid training to frontline units.

At that time, Friedberg labelled Olga Khudetska a “so-called journalist” after she raised concerns about Mriya Aid.

Khudestka also posted online a message she received from the Mriya Report. “You’re done,” the online message noted. “Get a lawyer.”

In January 2023 social media comments, Friedberg also called out U.S. lawyer David Leopold, who advised the transition team for U.S. President Joe Biden. Friedberg said Leopold was a “useful idiot” for retweeting the “insidious article” in the Ottawa Citizen about Mriya Aid and falsely suggested the high-profile lawyer was somehow involved in illegal activities.

In 2022, Leopold also raised concerns about Friedberg’s behaviour to Lake. Leopold had accused Friedberg of sending him harassing communications, but the Canadian Forces captain denied that allegation.

Lake, in a July 21, 2022 message to a Mriya Aid official, acknowledged concerns over Friedberg’s original interactions with Leopold. “My intent is to remove Joe from the organization and I’m seriously considering actions need (sic) to be taken from a CAF (Canadian Armed Forces) perspective as well,” she wrote.

But in a Nov. 16, 2022 statement to the Ottawa Citizen, Lake said Leopold’s concerns did not allow her to conclude that any military service offence was committed by Friedberg. Lake later sent an email to the Ottawa Citizen praising Friedberg.

David Pugliese is an award-winning journalist covering Canadian Forces and military issues in Canada. To support his work, subscribe: ottawacitizen.com/subscribe

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