Leonard Leo firm received $21M from Leo-linked group

The revelation comes as D.C. Legal professional Common Brian Schwalb is wanting into the funds and expenditures related to The 85 Fund and as Leo faces enhanced congressional scrutiny for his function in bolstering the conservative authorized motion. This contains presents he might have organized to Supreme Court docket justices after studies that he assisted in organising a present for Justice Samuel Alito.

Within the submitting, The 85 Fund states that it “undertook actions to coach the general public in regards to the significance of constitutionalism, restricted authorities, non secular liberty, the function of the courts, training insurance policies and election reforms.” The quantity paid to CRC is much like what it acquired from The 85 Fund the earlier 12 months, $21.7 million.

Leo’s community got here beneath investigation after a progressive watchdog group filed a criticism with the D.C. legal professional basic and the IRS following a POLITICO report in March that The 85 Fund had paid CRC $33.8 million over two years starting in 2020. The criticism requested an investigation into what providers had been offered and whether or not Leo was in violation of legal guidelines towards utilizing charities for private enrichment.

Across the time that information emerged about Schwalb’s investigation, it was additionally revealed that The 85 Fund had moved its headquarters, which was a UPS mailbox, from the D.C. space to Texas. The 85 Fund had been included in Virginia for almost 20 years, and Leo will not be cooperating with investigators. After CRC, the next-highest paid contractor is $1.4 million to the Valentine Group, described as an academic advocacy group.

The third-highest paid contractor is a bunch registered to the house tackle of Leo’s buddy, Ronald Cass, referred to as the Heart for the Rule of Regulation. Leo was the very best man at Cass’ wedding ceremony and Cass was a longtime buddy of Justice Antonin Scalia. Cass’ daughter is slated to clerk for Alito.

CRC Advisors didn’t instantly return a request for remark.

One other Leo-linked nonprofit, the Harmony Fund — also referred to as the Judicial Disaster Community — paid about $3.8 million to his agency between July 2021 to the tip of June 2022. It was the nonprofit’s second-largest unbiased contractor throughout that interval.

The 85 Fund reported contributions and grants of about $135 million and had about $139 million in bills. About 15 % of its bills went to Leo’s agency.

The submitting additionally features a large sum paid to a bunch referred to as Donors Belief, usually referred to as the “darkish cash ATM” of the conservative motion as a result of it permits its nameless donors to funnel limitless quantities of cash into the U.S. political system.

That anonymity makes it troublesome to ascertain Leo’s precise relationship with Donors Belief. But the large quantity — coming from Leo’s pillar nonprofit — accounts for roughly 30 % of Donors Belief’s whole income stream in 2022, which illustrates Leo’s appreciable affect over Donors Belief. In 2022, Donors Belief additionally gave over $4 million to the Federalist Society, the group of conservative legal professionals of which Leo is co-chairman.

The 85 Fund additionally gave $2.3 million to the Federalist Society and $80,000 to Leo’s alma mater, Cornell College.

The listed treasurer of The 85 Fund additionally appeared to revenue from its enterprise. The group paid $122,100 for consulting providers to Madison Methods, which is 35 % managed by Gary Marx. Marx, who is known as The 85 Fund’s treasurer within the submitting, can be president of Madison Methods.