World Aid Runners presents itself as a humanitarian lifeline in war-torn Ukraine… a U.S.-based nonprofit operating a “Free Store at the Front” in Kherson, where civilians displaced by Russia’s invasion can receive food, medicine, and clothing. The group is led by Ben Dusing, a former Kentucky attorney with a suspended law license, and Kristina Synia, his Ukrainian business associate and girlfriend (described by Ben as “my partner in all things”).

On the surface, their mission seems noble: Rally American donors to provide relief for those living near the front lines. But beneath that charitable veneer lies troubling questions about where the money is actually going and whether the organization is operating legally.

Despite being registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States since 2023, World Aid Runners has never filed a tax return. (Update: Tax returns were filed on 9/15/25 and 9/17/25 and have recently become available at ProPublica. See below for more information.) Instead of directing donors to contribute through the organization, Dusing and Synia frequently encourage supporters to send funds directly to them via Venmo or PayPal. Doing so bypasses the nonprofit entirely, meaning donations are not tax-deductible and fall outside the transparency rules required of U.S. charities.

People familiar with operations in Kherson say that little of the money raised appears to reach the civilians it is meant to help. Meanwhile, rumors have circulated that Dusing (who has faced a series of personal and professional controversies in the U.S.) has shown interest in buying real estate in Ukraine, raising questions about whether humanitarian efforts are being used to mask personal ambitions.

What began as a grassroots aid mission now faces growing scrutiny over its finances, accountability, and leadership. At the center of it all is Ben Dusing, a man whose own legal and ethical history casts a long shadow over the organization he controls.

World Aid Runners, the Organization

World Aid Runners (WAR) was created in late 2022 with a stated mission to “provide humanitarian relief to people affected by war.” The organization’s founders include:

• Ben Dusing, former attorney with suspended law licenses in Kentucky and Ohio
• John Gardner, an associate who has accompanied Ben on multiple trips to Ukraine
• William J. Waggonner, an attorney from Santa Fe, New Mexico

The men say the organization was formed after the three met while volunteering at the Polish-Ukrainian border early in the war. According to their own website, they began collecting vehicles, including ambulances, and decided to formalize their efforts under a U.S. nonprofit structure that could hold those assets and solicit tax-deductible donations. Ben says that he arrived in Kherson in January 2023 to begin work there.

The World Aid Runners website identifies Dusing as Director of Humanitarian Operations, Waggonner as General Director, and Gardner as Field Coordinator. Their flagship project is the “Free Store at the Front” in Kherson, Ukraine, which they describe as a distribution point for food, hygiene products, clothing, and medicine for civilians living near the front lines. Social media posts show photos of Dusing handing out supplies and calling for financial support, often appealing directly to donors in the United States.

Legal and Tax Information

World Aid Runners, a Nonprofit Corporation was registered in New Mexico on 2/27/23. Ben Dusing is listed as a director.

Ben’s solicitations for donations include repeated references to being a registered 501(c)(3) organization. While the organization is registered, as of 10/7/25, publicly available sources show no tax returns filed (Form 990 or 990PF). (Check latest filings here.)

The non-filing of tax returns is verified by going to the IRS website and downloading the most current file for organizations in New Mexico. The blank “Tax Period” field for  World Aid Runners confirms that no Form 990 has been filed for the organization.

On 10/6/25, Ben exclaimed on TikTok that the taxes for WAR have been filed and held up documents “proving” that they have been filed. The document he held up was an email sent on 9/18/25 from someone to him with the subject line “Tax Returns and WAR Budget Spreadsheet.” Of course, someone emailing tax returns to Ben is not the same as filing tax returns. It remains to be seen if returns were filed recently. It would appear, however, that any filing is delinquent as no returns have been filed since the organization’s effective date of exemption, 2/27/23, according to the IRS database as of 10/6/25.

As of 12/11/25, tax returns for World Aid Runners were available at ProPublica. The returns for the fiscal years ended April 30 showed the following:

Ben has been representing that he has contributed “huge” sums of money to the organization and that there are many expenses for the “massive” operation. As you can see above, the most the organization has spent in a year is just under $55,000. Occupancy and travel of $20k or more per year likely relate to Ben and Kristina’s apartment and airfare between the U.S. and Ukraine. Most interesting is that approximately $5,000 each year was spent on “food and supplies.” As of 12/10/25, Ben reported “serving” 2,000 people per month at the free store, giving them food, basic hygiene, medicine, and clothing. Draw your own conclusions.

Get your copies of the tax forms here:

• 4/30/23
• 4/30/24
• 4/30/25

Every time Ben mentions on TikTok live how hard he works on the mission in Ukraine, remember this from the tax filings:

Operations in Kherson, Ukraine

Kherson, a city on the banks of the Dneiper River (also Dnepr or Dnipro) in southern Ukraine, has endured some of the most intense devastation of the war. Before Russia’s invasion, it was home to 279,000 people. It was the first major Ukrainian city to fall, and was occupied by Russian forces from March to November 2022. Although Ukrainian forces liberated Kherson in late 2022, the city continues to face daily drone and artillery attacks. By early 2025, the population had fallen to roughly 66,000, as many residents fled to safer regions.

It is here that World Aid Runners established what it calls the “Free Store at the Front.” The organization describes the store as a community relief hub providing food, medicine, hygiene products, and clothing to civilians still living in the war zone. In an article published about a year ago, The Northern Kentucky Tribune highlighted the operation’s apparent success:

Originally intended to serve 100-150 a month, the FREE STORE was quickly overwhelmed by the spike in demand. Dusing and Gardner were able to quickly expand the FREE STORE to provide basic food, medicines, hygiene products, and clothes to 600 residents per month. The overall need, however, is approximately 2000.

While this paints a picture of a thriving humanitarian effort, critics and local observers tell a different story. People familiar with conditions in Kherson say the Free Store operates on a much smaller scale than its founders claim. They describe a modest storefront with limited space and minimal inventory which is far from the “scale of the operation” that Dusing touts on social media. Ben claims the support provided to the community is “life saving,” but observers say that is far from the case. At best, the aid provided is supplementary.

Supporters of World Aid Runners emphasize that the work is difficult and dangerous, and that any help delivered in a war zone should be commended. But skeptics counter that transparency and honesty are just as essential. At this point, the reality observed by people in Kherson does not match the narrative from Ben or the humanitarian goals donors are being promised.

Donation Problems

The donations solicited on the WAR website and by Ben on TikTok and Facebook are problematic because they ask people to donate using Venmo or Paypal, with funds going directly to Ben or Kristina.

What Ben doesn’t tell donors is that gifts sent this way are not tax-deductible. For a contribution to qualify as a charitable deduction, it must be made directly to the registered nonprofit, World Aid Runners. When money is sent to an individual, even one claiming to act “on behalf of” the organization, the IRS does not recognize it as a legitimate charitable donation.

The more serious issue, however, goes beyond the tax deduction. Donations sent to personal accounts mean there is no oversight or accountability. Donors have no way to confirm whether World Aid Runners ever receives the money, how much of it is used for humanitarian aid, or whether it is spent for personal purposes.

It has been reported that the money is being used to buy land in Ukraine through an entity called “The Kristina and Ben Project.” As a foreigner, Ben cannot own land in Ukraine, so it must be owned by Kristina or an entity that she owns. The information about the land purchases cannot be verified at this time.

Transparency is a cornerstone of nonprofit work, especially for organizations claiming to operate in high-risk, high-need environments like war zones. Yet in this case, there are no receipts, no public financial reports, and no verifiable accounting of how much money has been raised or where it has gone. Instead, donors are asked to simply trust Ben Dusing, a man whose own history of legal disputes, professional misconduct, and aggressive behavior toward critics raises serious questions about whether that trust is well placed.

Ben Dusing’s Legal Troubles and Threats

Ben Dusing’s public image as a humanitarian stands in sharp contrast to his documented history of professional misconduct, courtroom outbursts, and threatening behavior toward legal professionals. Court records from Kentucky and Ohio show that Dusing has been repeatedly disciplined and ultimately suspended from the practice of law in both states for conduct described by judges as abusive, menacing, and gravely contemptuous.

In November 2021, a profane, threatening video was recorded and posted to social media by Ben. Watch the video at that link or download the transcript here. The targets of the video were a judge’s staff attorney and opposing counsel in a case involving the custody of his child. The judge, Christopher Mehling, was so disturbed by the video that  he recused himself from the two custody cases Dusing had pending before him.

On February 24, 2022, the Kentucky Supreme Court temporarily suspended Dusing’s law license. According to the Opinion and Order:

Significantly, on April 5, 2021, Judge Mehling had entered extensive Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, Orders and Judgment of Custody in Bakker. Judge Mehling detailed Dusing’s extensive history of abusive conduct and physical violence, including multiple death threats to Bakker, with whom he had fathered a child. Judge Mehling described Dr. David Feinberg’s assessment of Dusing as “demonstrat[ing] a person who is guarded, suspicious, hostile, insecure and mistrusting[.]”

The same document includes reference to a bar complaint filed by a former client who Dusing was representing in a federal criminal trial in New York. The client alleged:

Dusing’s lack of preparation, poor performance at my trial, visible consumption of prescription drugs with runs to the pharmacy by his staff, are cause for grave concern now that I understand those prescription bottles to have contained amphetamines. . . . In fact, I remember Mr. Dusing stating during the trial that he was “back in business” after clutching a large prescription bottle that his paralegal just retrieved from the pharmacy for him. This was after a terrible performance at my trial when Mr. Dusing was unprepared, disheveled, seemed to have trouble collecting his thoughts, and failed to find the right words to piece together full sentences when questioning witnesses.

Ben’s Kentucky law license was temporarily suspended on the basis that there was probable cause to believe that his conduct posed a substantial threat of harm to his clients or to the public.

In 2020, Ben was ordered to serve 7 days in jail after being held in contempt in his child custody case, but he managed to avoid serving the sentence until 2023.

On March 1, 2022, Dusing’s Ohio law license was also temporarily suspended.

Then there was an unusual situation regarding a fire at Ben’s home in July 2022.

Ben has admitted to committing acts of domestic violence against the mother of his child.

Following further proceedings, the Kentucky Supreme Court in September 2024 formally suspended Dusing for three years, calling his violations troubling and egregious.

The opinion and order goes into great detail about the repeated shenanigans in both of Dusing’s child custody cases. A few of the more interesting items:

• Allegedly bribing a doctor to falsify evidence
• Filing an inordinate number of appeals
• Litigation tactics exceeding reasonable advocacy and solely calculated to disrupt court proceedings
• Making false statements against a judge
• Disrupting court proceedings with a barrage of motions and repetitive emails
• Describing the video as a “mistake of judgment” and meant to advocate for court reform
• Abusive and threatening language toward the mothers of his children

The order noted that “Dusing has no remorse about his actions.”

A dissenting opinion stated that the three year suspension was not adequate, and also said:

He nakedly defied our ethical rules in the pursuit of seemingly manipulating and distorting the facts and defrauding the court in order to achieve his desired goal in litigation. And perhaps most significantly, he broadcast blatant public threats of physical violence against our courts and staff.

The dissent also referenced a pattern of misconduct and said:

Finally, I also note that Dusing’s conduct in attempting to bribe a witness and in physically threatening participants in the legal process were not only ethical violations but undoubtedly unlawful and possibly also criminal.

On April 15, 2025, the Supreme Court of Ohio suspended Benjamin Dusing’s Ohio law license for three years and prohibited him from practicing law or performing any legal services in any capacity until Kentucky reinstates him.

Family Court and Custody Findings

Ben’s disciplinary history is intertwined with his long-running custody litigation with former partner Jill Bakker, the mother of his daughter. Over multiple appeals between 2021 and 2025, Kentucky courts repeatedly upheld findings that Dusing engaged in abusive, threatening, and manipulative behavior toward Bakker and others involved in the case.

In 2021, the Kenton Family Court awarded Bakker sole custody after concluding that Dusing had “physically and emotionally abused” her. After Ben had sent Bakker thousands of emails and texts, the court restricted his communications through the Our Family Wizard app. He was limited to one short daily message to minimize harassment. Ben violated those restrictions repeatedly, resulting in multiple contempt findings and jail sentences over the following years.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals noted that Dusing’s “level of emotional abuse” was extreme and that his repeated defiance showed he “believes he is above the orders of this Court.” The court also affirmed that he could purge part of his contempt sentence only by completing therapy with a psychiatrist experienced in treating individuals with narcissistic personality disorder, citing multiple expert evaluations that found he exhibited “narcissistic tendencies.”

Court records show that Dusing continued to litigate custody issues from abroad, even while claiming to be engaged in humanitarian work in Ukraine.

Threatening Video and Fallout

The video that led to the suspension of Ben’s law licenses in Kentucky and Ohio remains one of the most striking examples of his volatility. In it, Dusing launched into a profanity-laced tirade targeting two attorneys involved in his custody case, saying, “Give me a reason to blow your asses up.” One of the attorneys told investigators she was in “utter fear” for her safety. The presiding judge described the video as “disturbing and threatening,” concluding that it was intended to intimidate court staff and opposing counsel.

The Kentucky Supreme Court later wrote that Dusing’s video “had the effect of terrorizing two lawyers” and that his actions represented “a substantial threat of harm to the public.” The video was eventually removed from Facebook, but not before triggering disciplinary and criminal referrals.

Pattern of Behavior

From the family court findings to the disciplinary rulings, a consistent pattern emerges: anger, intimidation, and disregard for legal authority. Judges have described Dusing’s conduct as “scorched earth litigation,” “abusive,” and “solely calculated to disrupt court proceedings.”

This history of hostility toward the legal system raises serious questions about Ben’s fitness to manage donations, oversee a nonprofit, or operate in an environment where transparency and trust are paramount. When donors are asked to send money directly to Dusing through Venmo or PayPal, they are not just bypassing a charity, they are placing their trust in a man repeatedly sanctioned by multiple courts for unethical, threatening, and abusive conduct.

A Call for Transparency and Accountability

World Aid Runners promotes itself as a lifeline for people living under siege in Ukraine, but the evidence tells a different story. The organization has failed to publish a single tax return, routinely directs donations to private accounts, and is led by a man whose law licenses in two states have been suspended for threats, misconduct, and abuse.

Charities that ask the public for money (especially those operating in conflict zones) owe donors and beneficiaries the highest level of transparency. Instead, World Aid Runners has offered none. There are no audits, no verified records of aid distribution, and no independent oversight. Every dollar sent to Ben Dusing or his associates disappears into a system with no documented oversight or transparency.

In a time when true humanitarian workers risk their lives to deliver real aid, World Aid Runners has a duty to prove that it is one of them, not just pay lip service on social media via Ben’s profanities.