LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville nonprofit is under fire after a different state told them they couldn't do business there anymore.

Volunteers in Maryland claim the Louisville Naval Museum is scamming people, while the organization said they just got in over their heads.

The goal of the nonprofit was to bring a WWII rescue boat, a P-520, to Louisville.

"It was all kind of, 'hey this sounds good, let's do it' type of thing," Mark Gatton, Louisville Naval Museum vice president said.

The Louisville Navel Museum, a 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 2019. The organization said 'permanently closed,' and the address listed is Gatton's home address in south Louisville.

"We just got I think we got the short end of the stick because we were the newbies on the block and really didn't have a clue as to what we were doing," Gatton said.

The organization bought the ship for $10 on the west coast. The P-520 eventually made it to Maryland.

"We were just trying to get it repaired so we can get it to Louisville," Gatton said.

Last year, the U.S. Marshals seized the ship from the Louisville Naval Museum.

It stems from the museum being involved in a lawsuit, where another company said it spent nearly $93,000 on the war vessel and was never paid for its services. A judge ordered the Louisville naval museum to pay up.

Then, in November, Maryland's Secretary of State ordered a cease and desist for not properly registering with the state. However, Kentucky's Secretary of State said the organization is in good standing here.

But some volunteers said they didn't just get in over their heads.

"These guys are some type of con job that are basically doing this traveling museum thing from city to city to city to just take in donation dollars," Ted Yadlowsky, a volunteer in Maryland said.

Yadlowsky said he volunteered to help and donated $500 when someone was hurt, but he believes the money was pocketed.

"It just felt like this was some type of scam they thought they could do, use a nonprofit take in money, they don't have to a certain amount of level of accounting on it and they can claim anything," Yadlowsky said.

Gatton, on the other hand, said they didn't even have enough donations coming in for them to be able to scam people.

"I don't know what the fraud part is," Gatton said. "I don't know who were supposedly defrauding. I have no idea."

Gatton said they are still hopeful they will get some sort of warship here to Louisville.

"We have absolutely nothing to hide," Gatton said.

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