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A California bail reform group — backed by celebrities such as John Legend — has shuttered its Las Vegas chapter after helping free a man who nearly killed a waiter one week later.
The Bail Project — endorsed by the "All of Me" crooner, Danny Glover and Richard Branson — posted a $3,000 bond for burglary suspect Rashawn Gaston-Anderson in December 2021, according to Deadline.
Six days later, he shot restaurant worker Chengyan Wang 11 times while holding up Shanghai Taste eatery in Las Vegas, the entertainment site reported.
In September, Wang filed a lawsuit against Gaston-Anderson, The Bail Project and the shopping plaza where the shooting occurred, court records show.
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Danny Glover, left, John Legend, center, and Richard Branson endorsed The Bail Project. (Roberto Serra for Iguana Press, NBC and John Lamparski)
The Bail Project denied that it shut down the Las Vegas operation over the ongoing lawsuit in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"The Bail Project closed its Vegas branch earlier this month but it had nothing to do with the litigation," a spokesperson wrote. "As an advocacy organization that is also a service provider, The Bail Project seeks to maximize the number of people we can help annually with our limited resources. We monitor the volume of people served by our local sites and periodically reassess the allocation of staff and bail capital across the country accordingly. As part of this ongoing recalibration, we closed our site in Vegas earlier this month."
Rashawn Gaston-Anderson was bailed out by nonprofit The Bail Project six days before shooting and seriously injuring Chengyan Wang in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
News of the closure comes months after it was revealed that a Minnesota bail fund promoted by Vice President Kamala Harris helped free a man who allegedly committed murder three weeks later.
WE CAN FIX BAD BAIL REFORM BY PUTTING PUBLIC SAFETY FIRST
Prosecutors detailed a timeline of Gaston-Anderson’s crimes in court records. In November 2021, he was busted for pandering and carrying a concealed weapon, for which he was released without bail.
The next day, he was arrested again for burglary and theft. The Bail Project paid his $3,000 bond.
In Wang’s lawsuit, he accused the nonprofit of posting his assailant’s bail without considering whether Gaston-Anderson was an imminent danger to the community, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Gaston-Anderson, 24, was sentenced this month to seven to 18 years in prison for the shooting that left Wang with permanent injuries.
"He’s got scars all over his body," Wang’s lawyer, Kory Kaplan, told the Review-Journal. "He can’t move his shoulder over a certain height."
The nonprofit also never registered as a bail agent with Nevada’s Division of Insurance, which is required under state late, Kaplan said.
The mission of The Bail Project is to "challenge a system that criminalizes race and poverty" by paying defendants’ bail.
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"They’re going around as a bailing agency bailing people out with no or little due diligence," Kaplan added.
Glover, Legend and Branson are on the group’s advisory board.
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