RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A former Virginia Attorney General's Office employee filed a lawsuit on Thursday against former Attorney General Jason Miyares, among other previous office leaders, due to allegations of wrongful termination after she spoke out about a payment she alleged was a conflict of in terest. On Thursday, Feb. 12, Linda Orr, former financial services manager for the Office of the Virginia Attorney General, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Miyares, former chief deputy Attorney General Steven Popps, and Teresa Vice, former director of Human Resources for the office. In the complaint filed in the case, Orr alleged that she was fired from her position on March 25, 2024, after she raised concerns about payments requested to be made by the office to a nonprofit led by multiple employees within the Attorney General's Office. The employees were not named in the complaint. Orr is seeking damages, back pay, front pay, interest from the day she was fired and the coverage of legal fees. Orr was reportedly hired by the office in 2021 to serve as a financial specialist. Years into the job, the complaint stated that in December 2023 and January 2024, Orr's co-worker, Ashley Miller, noticed a vendor invoice submitted to her for payment by the Virginia Attorney General's Animal Law Unit. The payment request reportedly directed Miller to pay taxpayer funds to The Virginia Animal Fighting Task Force (VAFTF), a nonprofit registered to the Richmond area with the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC). As of reporting, multiple former or current Attorney General's Office employees were listed as VAFTF leaders on the organization's page in the SCC's business entity information system. Miller reportedly noticed that the nonprofit had never been registered for payment by the Attorney General's Office before and began collecting documentation about the organization. The complaint said that Miller noted that multiple attorneys who were employed by the Attorney General's Office served as executive leadership of the nonprofit. Miller reportedly recognized that the payment request was allegedly an illegal conflict of interest and flagged the matter to Christie Wells, chief financial officer at the office, during which Miller refused to remit payment. The document alleged that afterward, Wells and Popps agreed to continue processing payments to companies led by employees in alleged violation of state and federal law. Both Wells and Popps reportedly acted under "specific direction" by Miyares. According to the complaint, Miller noted to both Wells and Popps in mid-January 2024 that the funds could not be paid to employees of the office, as the funds were regulated under state and federal law. The complaint further alleged that some of the funds received and earmarked for payment to the employees came from the U.S. Department of Justice. Around Jan. 16 or Jan. 17, 2024, Miller alleged that she refused to process the funds, which reportedly amounted to "thousands of dollars," and despite her refusal, Miller claimed that multiple payments were made anyway. Miller alleged that she saw senior leadership at the office funneled "thousands in taxpayer dollars illegally to their own employees." Miller reportedly flagged the issue to office leadership and continued communications about the issue in February 2024. Miller and Orr, who appear to have been friends as well as co-workers, communicated with each other regarding the matter. The complaint claimed that Miller and Orr's association, as well as their discussion of the alleged conflict of interest, created a "retaliatory animus" by the defendants in the case. Vice then began investigating Orr, and focused on communications between Orr and Miller, allegedly concluding that neither Orr nor Miller should be fired. Wells reportedly told Vice that Orr did not deserve to be fired, but on March, 2024, both Miller and Orr were fired, according to the complaint. Orr alleged in the document that the firing was retaliatory due to the office's discovery of what she claimed was her use of free speech to discuss matters of public concern. 8News has reached out to Orr's attorney, as well as Miyares, Popps and VAFTF for comment. Contact information for Vice was not publicly available, as of reporting. The complaint is available in its entirety below. LindaOrrlawsuit_Miyares_complaintDownload Editor's Note: While the civil complaint refers to the involved nonprofit as The Virginia Fighting Task Force (VFTF), the plaintiff's attorney has confirmed with 8News it is actually The Virginia Animal Fighting Task Force (VAFTF). ...read more read less