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A key advocacy group in conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo’s community paid tens of millions to his consulting agency, a brand new submitting reveals, the most recent instance of Leo’s internet of nonprofits sending cash to his enterprise amid authorities scrutiny of his dealings.
The Harmony Fund, a Virginia-based nonprofit, paid $6 million to Leo’s agency CRC Advisors between July 2022 and the tip of June 2023 for “Consulting,” in response to the submitting, supplied to POLITICO by the left-leaning watchdog group Accountable.US. The revelations of the massive sum transferred to Leo’s agency come amid mounting questions round Leo’s advocacy actions and whether or not he has stood to realize financially from nonprofit teams pushing a conservative agenda across the nation.
D.C. Lawyer Common Brian Schwalb has been probing Leo’s community, which incorporates the Harmony Fund, as a part of an inquiry into whether or not the teams skirted nonprofit guidelines. Leo has vowed to not cooperate.
In recent times, Leo, co-chairman of the Federalist Society’s board, has amassed outsized affect in conservative authorized circles, advising former President Donald Trump on judicial picks. That function has additionally introduced added scrutiny to his monetary actions.
He additionally obtained an enormous $1.6 billion present from the businessman Barre Seid to fund Leo’s agenda by a bunch known as the Marble Freedom Belief. The Marble Freedom Belief, which counts Leo as a trustee and chairman, has transferred tens of tens of millions of {dollars} to the Harmony Fund. The Harmony Fund has additionally paid tens of millions to Leo’s for-profit enterprise.
Between July 2022 and the tip of June 2023, the Harmony Fund, also called the Judicial Disaster Community, obtained about $52.8 million. Between Might 2022 and the tip of April 2023, Marble Freedom Belief reported giving $55.5 million to the Harmony Fund.
Schwalb, a Democrat, has questioned whether or not the Leo teams’ actions violate nonprofit tax legal guidelines. Republican members of Congress have launched their very own inquiry into the legal professional common’s probe. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and James Comer (R-Ky.), chairs of the Home Judiciary and Oversight Committees respectively, have requested for paperwork associated to his investigation.
The Harmony Fund has reported spending $140,000 to foyer Congress on “Points associated to authorities oversight, regulation enforcement, public advocacy and Rule of Legislation” because it registered to foyer in late 2023, not lengthy after information of the probe broke.
Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Disaster Community (an alias of the Harmony Fund), didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
By way of counsel, CRC Advisors denied that something within the 990 supplied proof of “self-enrichment.” In a press release, the corporate known as Politico’s protection “irredeemably biased” and “unreliable.”
The submitting from the Harmony Fund additionally illustrates how the grant-making group funded efforts throughout the nation to stymie abortion entry by different teams, together with one preventing a constitutional modification in Ohio that protected entry to the process.
The Harmony Fund gave $8.8 million to Susan B. Anthony Professional-Life America, a number one anti-abortion group, together with $3 million to Shield Ladies Ohio Motion, a bunch that was preventing the constitutional modification in Ohio that enshrined abortion entry. The modification in the end handed.
The Harmony Fund additionally gave $6 million to the Republican Governors Affiliation and $4 million to the Republican Lawyer Generals Affiliation. It gave a further $3 million to a bunch that was backing the Republican candidate for Kentucky governor, David Cameron, who in the end misplaced.
The big present to the Republican Attorneys Common Affiliation is notable, partially, as a result of numerous Republican attorneys common have additionally questioned Schwalb’s inquiry into Leo.
The Harmony Fund additionally gave $500,000 every to a Florida political committee then known as Pals of Ron DeSantis and a nonprofit based by former Vice President Mike Pence known as Advancing American Freedom. It additionally gave $300,000 to a nonprofit based by former presidential candidate and U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.
Accountable.US President Caroline Ciccone blasted the Harmony Fund, calling it an essential a part of Leo’s equipment to switch cash to his personal enterprise.
“Leonard Leo’s Harmony Fund is on the middle of his far-right darkish cash internet and a key cog in Leo’s obvious self-enrichment scheme,” Ciccone mentioned.
In its monetary submitting, the Harmony Fund reported that it produced “radio and tv commercials concerning important authorized and civic points, courtroom packing, government department appointments, federalism, and civic accountability.” It additionally reported paying about $3.8 million to the media shopping for agency Mentzer Media for “Advocacy,” however CRC Advisors was the Harmony Fund’s largest impartial contractor by tens of millions of {dollars}.
The 85 Fund, additionally a part of the investigation by Schwalb, paid $21 million to Leo’s consulting agency in 2022.
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