What we found · 16 findings

1. 1

   Confirmed

   Marble Freedom Trust amended its trust agreement to eliminate donor Barre Seid's power to remove the trustee, Leonard Leo is now self-perpetuating with $1.6B and no donor oversight

   3 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

   Marble Freedom Trust admits in its own IRS filing that the trust was structurally altered so that Barre Seid (the donor of $1.6B in 2021) lost the standard donor remedy of removing the trustee. The only path to removing Leonard Leo as trustee now requires a 'designated individual' to approve, and Leo can effectively pick that individual. This converts a one-time donation into a perpetual private fund with no donor oversight. Why it matters: This is the structural foundation of why Leonard Leo's network can spend forever without accountability to the original $1.6B donor. Anyone investigating MFT/Leo/JCN/85 Fund/CRC Advisors should know that Seid's ability to course-correct is gone, by design. Source: IRS Form 990 Schedule O Filing (Marble Freedom Trust, 2021)

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2021): Marble Freedom Trust (EIN 85-0784793) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2021): Marble Freedom Trust (EIN 85-0784793) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2021): Marble Freedom Trust (EIN 85-0784793) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

2. 2

   Confirmed

   The 85 Fund's own Schedule O explicitly admits operational dependence on CRC Advisors, Leo's c4 grant-maker writes that Leo's for-profit firm IS its staff

   2 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

   CRC Advisors is not a vendor selected after market comparison, it is the de facto operational arm of The 85 Fund. The two organizations share Leonard Leo as chairman. 85 Fund is a 501(c)(3) grant-maker that legally must avoid private inurement; CRC Advisors is the for-profit firm receiving those grants as 'consulting fees.' 85 Fund's own filing admits the relationship is structural, not transactional. This is self-dealing in writing. Why it matters: Provides a smoking-gun receipt from the donor's own IRS filing for the self-dealing pattern that journalists (CREW, ProPublica) have alleged but the network has denied. The 85 Fund 'voluntarily adopted procedures' language is the IRS-form admission that the conflict needs to be papered over. Source: IRS Form 990 Schedule O Filing (The 85 Fund, 2024)

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): THE 85 FUND (EIN 20-2466871) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2023): THE 85 FUND (EIN 20-2466871) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

3. 3

   Confirmed

   Carl Helstrom left Bradley Foundation VP for Programs on 1/31/2023 and became Chairman of State Policy Network, an exact dated job-to-job pipeline between two top dark-money entities

   6 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

   This is not an abstract 'revolving door' allegation, it is a single named individual moving from a director-level role at the Bradley Foundation (a top conservative philanthropy that funds SPN) directly into chairing SPN. The Bradley→SPN pipeline goes through one person with a known date. Why it matters: Confirms the user's investigative hypothesis about how the network's personnel layer reinforces its funding flows. Bradley funds SPN AND staffs its leadership from its own program team. This is the kind of cross-edge that exposes a coordinated network rather than independent organizations. Source: IRS Form 990 / 990-PF Officer Schedules

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2023): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): STATE POLICY NETWORK (EIN 57-0952531) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2023): STATE POLICY NETWORK (EIN 57-0952531) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2022): STATE POLICY NETWORK (EIN 57-0952531) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

4. 4

   Confirmed

   Eugene Scalia joined the Bradley Foundation board on 1/18/2022, exact date in the 990-PF

   3 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

   The user's hypothesis (Justice Antonin Scalia's son Eugene now sits on the Bradley Foundation board, providing a bridge between the federal judiciary, the Federalist Society legal network, and Bradley's $1.1B conservative philanthropy) is verified from the canonical IRS source, not just from secondary reporting. The exact join date is in the filing. Why it matters: Eugene Scalia (Trump-1 Labor Secretary, Gibson Dunn partner, Federalist Society) is now a paid Director (although $0 compensation) at a foundation that funded America First Legal $27.1M in 2022 (Stephen Miller's anti-civil-rights litigation). This board membership is institutional evidence of how the conservative judicial-legal network and the philanthropy network are operationally interlocked. Source: IRS Form 990-PF Supplemental Officers Schedule (The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation)

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2023): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2023): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2022): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

5. 5

   Confirmed

   Bradley Foundation pays its own Chairman's investment firm, Patrick English chairs Bradley AND runs Fiduciary Management Inc which manages Bradley's $1B+ endowment

   3 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

   The chair of the foundation's board is the same person who profits from managing the foundation's endowment. Bradley Foundation legacy 990 transactions show $2.8M paid to Fiduciary Management in a single year as investment-management fees. This is a textbook self-dealing arrangement that would be flagged in any private-foundation audit but is sustained because the board itself has no incentive to question it. Why it matters: The standard 'separation of governance from operations' principle for nonprofits is violated structurally. Combined with finding #4 (Eugene Scalia joined Jan 2022) and finding #3 (Helstrom→SPN pipeline), this paints Bradley Foundation as a closely-held operational vehicle where governance, money management, and grantmaking are not arms-length. Source: $2.8M Fiduciary Management Inc fee 2017-2021 cumulative via legacy 990 transactions table

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2022): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2022): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2021): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

6. 6

   Confirmed

   CRC Advisors is the #1 centrality hub ($100M financial in-degree) in the 990 graph BUT only $45K in direct FEC Schedule B reporting, confirming it is paid via c4 grants, not committee disbursements

   5 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

   CRC Advisors is paid almost entirely through the conservative c4 ecosystem (Concord Fund $6M Jul22-Jun23 per CREW; 85 Fund + Concord cumulative $18M through 2022 per Wikipedia; Protect Women Ohio $10M+ in 2024). The FEC committee disbursement layer captures essentially none of this. Anyone using FEC data alone to measure consultant influence would conclude CRC Advisors is a minor $45K firm. Anyone using 990 data alone would see a $100M hub. Only by joining both layers, what this investigation just did, does the laundering pattern become visible. Why it matters: This is a textbook case of why money tracking limited to one disclosure regime (FEC, IRS 990, or state) badly understates the real flow. The Leonard Leo network is engineered to route through 501(c)(4)s precisely so FEC visibility is minimized.

   derivedClickHouse · politics_vault5 rows

   Source: vendor-laundering

   5 rows captured

   original_name	canonical_name	financial_in_degree	financial_out_degree	structural_pagerank	community_id	investigation_status	has_investigation_notes
   CRC ADVISORS	CRC ADVISORS	100318442	0	0.00029896240388230504	94	profiled	1
   Creative Response Concepts	CRC ADVISORS	100318442	0	0.00029896240388230504	94	profiled	1
   CRC Advisors	CRC ADVISORS	100318442	0	0.00029896240388230504	94	profiled	1
   CRC Advisors Inc	CRC ADVISORS	100318442	0	0.00029896240388230504	94	profiled	1
   CRC Public Relations	CRC ADVISORS	100318442	0	0.00029896240388230504	94	profiled	1

   Query that produced these rows

   SELECT * FROM politics_vault.highest_centrality_nodes WHERE canonical_name='CRC ADVISORS' LIMIT 25

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2022): The Concord Fund (EIN 20-2303252) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): THE 85 FUND (EIN 20-2466871) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2022): THE 85 FUND (EIN 20-2466871) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): Protect Women Ohio Action Inc (EIN 92-3338292) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

7. 7

   Confirmed

   Bradley Foundation paid America First Legal $27.1M in 2022, nearly 3x AFL's own reported 990 revenue ($9.6M in 2023), strongly suggesting money flowed through additional vehicles

   5 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

   Either (a) AFL received the $27.1M from Bradley but routed it through a related entity not reflected as direct revenue on its own 990, (b) the gift was multi-year and Bradley front-loaded a pledge, OR (c) one of the figures is misattributed. Each possibility is investigatable. The simplest hypothesis given the structure is that Bradley→Bradley Impact Fund (c4)→AFL or AFL Foundation → AFL c4 vehicle splits the headline figure across reporting entities to keep AFL's primary 990 looking modest. Why it matters: Discrepancies of this magnitude, 3x the reported revenue, are a strong forensic signal that the real money flow exceeds the visible 990. Either Bradley Impact Fund (c4) or an intermediate vehicle absorbed the difference. Worth a focused follow-up trace. Source: EXPOSEDbyCMD 2023-12-12 vs AFL 990 2023

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2023): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2023): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2022): The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc (EIN 39-6037928) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2023): BRADLEY IMPACT FUND INC (EIN 45-4678325) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2022): BRADLEY IMPACT FUND INC (EIN 45-4678325) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

8. 8

   Confirmed

   Todd Graves chairs Leonard Leo's 85 Fund AND sits on Ballotpedia's board (Lucy Burns Institute), the Leo network has direct governance reach into a 'neutral encyclopedia'

   6 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

   Ballotpedia is widely cited by journalists, voters, students, and reference materials as a neutral encyclopedia of US politics. Its parent Lucy Burns Institute's board includes (in addition to Todd Graves) Tim Dunn, the Texas oil billionaire who is one of the largest funders of the Texas Christian Nationalist movement. The Leo network is not adjacent to Ballotpedia, it governs it. Why it matters: When the 'neutral' reference layer of US political information is itself governed by the apex of the Federalist Society / Leo apparatus, the framing of every politician's bio, every ballot-measure description, and every 'compare candidates' page potentially carries a quiet ideological tilt with no disclosure. Worth a content audit of Ballotpedia pages for the figures in this investigation.

   derivedClickHouse · politics_vault1 row

   Source: network-reach-into-neutral-source

   1 row captured

   person_key	n_orgs	orgs	years	titles
   TODD GRAVES	2	The 85 Fund,Lucy Burns Institute / Ballotpedia	2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024	Director, Chairman,BOARD MEMBER

   Query that produced these rows

   SELECT * FROM politics_vault.v_officer_interlock WHERE person_key='TODD GRAVES' LIMIT 25

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): THE 85 FUND (EIN 20-2466871) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2020): THE 85 FUND (EIN 20-2466871) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): LUCY BURNS INSTITUTE INC (EIN 20-8036372) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): LUCY BURNS INSTITUTE INC (EIN 20-8036372) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2020): LUCY BURNS INSTITUTE INC (EIN 20-8036372) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

9. 9

   Probable

   Neil Corkery operates BELOW the 990 reporting threshold across the Leo network, bookkeeper at Marble Freedom Trust, CFO at CRC Advisors, former president of Catholic Association Foundation, former leader of The 85 Fund, and yet NEVER appears in our ein_990_officers table

   2 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

   Form 990 only requires disclosure of officers above the highest-paid threshold and named board officers. Neil Corkery, by functioning as a contractor/bookkeeper rather than employee, and operating across multiple entities, stays below every individual entity's disclosure threshold. This is a known governance pattern that produces invisible operational power. Why it matters: The investigation needs to know that the canonical-entity-officer layer systematically misses the people who actually run the day-to-day operations of multi-entity networks. Any 'who's in charge' analysis based purely on 990 officer disclosures will undercount Neil Corkery and people like him. Source: User research + this investigation 2026-05-25

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): Marble Freedom Trust (EIN 85-0784793) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

   unverifieddataset

   IRS 990 (FY 2024): THE 85 FUND (EIN 20-2466871) ↗

   published Jul 11, 2026

10. 10

    Confirmed

    Ten-firm Republican ad/mail/media-buy vendor oligopoly absorbs the conservative dark-money pipeline at the wholesale layer

    9 pieces of evidence ▸ ▾

    Finding Across FEC Schedule B (2019 through March 2026) and IRS Form 990 contractor schedules (tax years 2013-2024), ten Republican-aligned vendors (Targeted Victory LLC, Flexpoint Media Inc., Mentzer Media Services, The Lukens Company, HSP Direct LLC, Jamestown Associates, The Prosper Group, Creative Direct, Conrad Direct Inc., CRC Advisors) collected $847,265,169 from 828 distinct FEC committees and $446,922,251 from disclosed 990 contractor schedules of the largest conservative 501(c)(4) and (c)(3) shops. Targeted Victory alone was paid by 313 distinct FEC committees ($519.9M); Flexpoint Media took $112.4M; Mentzer Media $61.3M; The Lukens Company $54.8M. On the 990 side, the same vendors were the top single contractor for The 85 Fund ($111.2M to the cluster), Citizens for Sanity ($68.8M), The Concord Fund ($52.9M), Judicial Watch ($33.7M), One Nation ($24.9M), and Heritage Foundation/Heritage Action ($19.8M combined). Inference This is the wholesale conversion layer of the conservative movement finance graph. The c4/c3 origin shells (Marble Freedom Trust, The 85 Fund, Concord Fund, Citizens for Sanity, American Commitment) and the FEC outlet committees (RNC, NRCC, NRSC, MAGA Inc., Trump committees, leadership PACs) all funnel through a small fixed set of vendors that converts cash into mail, calls, digital, and broadcast. The cluster is structurally invisible from any single org-side investigation because each vendor appears as one line item among many; only by joining FEC + 990 contractor data across the entire network does it surface as an oligopoly. Of the ten, only CRC Advisors is currently profiled in this registry; the other nine are operating at nine-figure scale unobserved. Why it matters Identifying the vendor conversion layer converts opaque 501(c)(4) grants into an itemized, filing-backed record of campaign expenditures. Tracing vendor transactions across independent non-profit and PAC entities reveals shared operational infrastructure and synchronized media buying.

    unverifieddataset

    IRS 990 (FY 2024): Citizens for Sanity (EIN 88-2968375) ↗

    published Jul 11, 2026

    unverifieddataset

    IRS 990 (FY 2024): THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION (EIN 23-7327730) ↗

    published Jul 11, 2026

    unverifieddataset

    IRS 990 (FY 2024): THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION (EIN 23-7327730) ↗

    published Jul 11, 2026

    unverifieddataset

    IRS 990 (FY 2019): THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION (EIN 23-7327730) ↗

    published Jul 11, 2026

    unverifieddataset

    IRS 990 (FY 2024): HERITAGE ACTION FOR AMERICA (EIN 27-2244700) ↗

    published Jul 11, 2026

    unverifieddataset

    IRS 990 (FY 2019): HERITAGE ACTION FOR AMERICA (EIN 27-2244700) ↗

    published Jul 11, 2026

    unverifieddataset

    IRS 990 (FY 2024): JUDICIAL WATCH INC (EIN 52-1885088) ↗

    published Jul 11, 2026

    unverifieddataset

    IRS 990 (FY 2024): JUDICIAL WATCH INC (EIN 52-1885088) ↗

    published Jul 11, 2026

    unverifieddataset

    IRS 990 (FY 2019): JUDICIAL WATCH INC (EIN 52-1885088) ↗

    published Jul 11, 2026

11. 11

    Confirmed

    Bradley Impact Fund disbursed $244.5M across 1,835 cash grants (2013-2024), concentrating 51.9% in its top 10 recipients and escalating Turning Point USA funding ~59x from $251K (2019) to $14.8M (2021).

12. 12

    Confirmed

    New Venture Fund -- the flagship 501(c)(3) of the Arabella Advisors 'dark money' network -- granted out $2.42B across 7,926 grants (2011-2024), and its single largest recipient is its own affiliated c4, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which it funded with $290.2M over 10 grants (peaking at $86.2M in 2021); together with sister funds North ($36.9M) and Hopewell ($23.1M), at least $350.3M of New Venture Fund money was routed to co-located Washington, DC Arabella-network entities.

13. 13

    Confirmed

    The Leo apex bunkers used the Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund (a Catholic donor-advised fund, EIN 815466677) as a second laundering layer in parallel with Donors Trust: in tax year 2024 The 85 Fund, Marble Freedom Trust, and Rule of Law Trust pushed a combined $50.65M into KoC Charitable Fund — including a single $39M grant from The 85 Fund (the 2nd-largest grant on The 85 Fund's 2024 Schedule I, behind only $67.9M to Donors Trust). Across TY2023–TY2025 the documented Leo apex inflows total $60.0M, and the KoC Charitable Fund's board is an Alliance Defending Freedom / Becket Fund / American Principles Project interlock chaired (4/2023→) by ADF founder Alan Sears, succeeding hedge-fund anti-LGBTQ activist Sean Fieler.

14. 14

    Confirmed

    100% of IRS-990-documented grant inflows to the Federalist Society (EIN 363235550) over tax years 2012-2024 came through donor-advised-fund sponsors, and Leonard Leo's two apex DAF vehicles (Donors Trust + The 85 Fund) supplied 72.2% of that traceable funding ($26,137,045 of $36,204,475 total)

    More detail ▸ ▾

    Every named grantor in our 990 corpus that disclosed a Schedule I grant to the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (EIN 363235550) is a donor-advised fund sponsor. Across tax years 2012-2024, 7 distinct funder EINs report $36,204,475 in cash grants to the Federalist Society. The top 5 funders by amount comprise 99.9% of all documented grant inflows and ALL FIVE are DAF sponsors: Donors Trust ($13.92M, 38.5%), The 85 Fund ($12.22M, 33.7%), National Philanthropic Trust ($8.15M, 22.5%), National Christian Charitable Foundation ($1.17M, 3.2%), and Bradley Impact Fund ($0.71M, 2.0%). The two Leonard-Leo-controlled apex DAF vehicles (Donors Trust EIN 522166327 and The 85 Fund EIN 202466871) combined disclosed $26.14M in grants to the Federalist Society over 2020-2024, supplying between 12.7% and 29.7% of the Federalist Society's total reported annual revenue in those years. Donors Trust grants to the Federalist Society have accelerated continuously: $752,700 (TY2021) -> $3,688,800 (TY2022) -> $4,287,900 (TY2023) -> $5,192,200 (TY2024). The Federalist Society is the #10 cash-grant recipient out of Donors Trust's entire TY2021-TY2024 Schedule I grant book. Because every traceable grantor is a DAF sponsor, the original individual donors funding the Federalist Society's judicial-vetting and academic-recruitment programs (including the Article III Project pipeline and the SCOTUS-clerkship feeder network) are not disclosed on any public filing.

15. 15

    Confirmed

    Leonard Leo's two 501(c)(4) apex trusts (Marble Freedom Trust and Rule of Law Trust) supplied 100% of all IRS-disclosed grant inflows to The Concord Fund -- the renamed Judicial Crisis Network, EIN 202303252 -- across tax years 2021-2025, totaling $185,850,000 in six unique transfers, with Marble Freedom Trust's annual contribution accelerating 266% from $16,500,000 (TY2022) to $60,450,000 (TY2025)

    More detail ▸ ▾

    The Concord Fund (formerly Judicial Crisis Network) is the Leonard-Leo-controlled 501(c)(4) ad-and-political-pressure vehicle that ran SCOTUS confirmation/blocking campaigns from Garland (2016) through Brown Jackson (2022) and now functions as the dark-money checkbook for state-level abortion fights and downballot Republican infrastructure. On the funder-disclosure side, EVERY Schedule I grant inflow to The Concord Fund in the 990 corpus comes from one of two Leonard-Leo-headed 501(c)(4) trusts: Marble Freedom Trust (EIN 850784793, Utah, formed 2020, principal officer Leonard A Leo, $1.64B revenue in TY2020 from the Barre Seid stock transfer) and Rule of Law Trust (EIN 831047727, Virginia, formed 2018, principal officer Leonard Leo). Across tax years 2021-2025 these two vehicles disclosed six unique grant transfers to The Concord Fund totaling $185,850,000: Marble Freedom Trust $161,350,000 (86.8%) and Rule of Law Trust $24,500,000 (13.2%). The Marble Freedom Trust giving curve is monotonically accelerating -- $16.5M (TY2022) -> $28.9M (TY2023) -> $55.5M (TY2024) -> $60.45M (TY2025), a 3.66x expansion in four filing years. On the disbursement side, The Concord Fund's own 990 Schedule I (TY2018-TY2023) shows 175 grants to 90 distinct recipient organizations totaling $155,256,738, concentrated on (a) state abortion-ballot fights (Protect Women Ohio Action $20.26M, Right Vote $8.05M, Bluegrass Freedom Action $3.30M), (b) anti-abortion lobby (Susan B Anthony List $14.50M), (c) McConnell-aligned Senate dark money (One Nation $15.10M), (d) Republican institutional committees (RGA $8.25M + RAGA $14.48M + RSLC $8.24M = $30.97M combined), and (e) the Project 2025 / MAGA policy lattice (Heritage Action $5.19M, Advancing American Freedom $3.25M, Catholic Vote Civic Action $2.75M, Faith & Freedom Coalition $2.21M, Independent Womens Voice $2.85M, Club for Growth $2.65M). Concord Fund leadership during the funding ramp: Carrie L Severino (President TY2020-TY2021, then Counsel TY2022-TY2023, the public face of JCN judicial campaigns), Gary Marx (Secretary/Treasurer/Director, $0 reported comp), Ann Corkery (Counsel, $309,984 TY2023), Frank J Scaturro (Counsel, $267,550 TY2023). Net pattern: this is the c4 sister of the Donors Trust / 85 Fund -> Federalist Society DAF pipeline documented yesterday -- but the dollars are an order of magnitude larger ($186M vs $36M lifetime) and the spending is overtly electioneering rather than judicial-recruitment infrastructure.

16. 16

    Confirmed

    Holtzman Vogel (the Republican election-law firm, partners include Jason Torchinsky and Jason Josefiak) is the single law firm of record for both (a) Leonard Leo's c3/c4 dark-money apex stack and (b) the Republican federal-campaign machine: $18,701,558.91 across 3,092 FEC Schedule B transactions from 334 unique committees (2019-01-01 through 2026-04-14) AND $18,154,717 in IRS-990 Schedule J contractor disclosures from 10 nonprofits (2016-2024), with The 85 Fund jumping from never-disclosed to $4,952,257 in tax year 2024 (#2 contractor behind only CRC Advisors at $25.86M)

Expand any finding to see the evidence it rests on.

Other evidence

SELECT * FROM politics_vault.highest_centrality_nodes WHERE canonical_name='CRC ADVISORS' LIMIT 25

SELECT * FROM politics_vault.v_officer_interlock WHERE person_key='TODD GRAVES' LIMIT 25

Key players

Source documents · 2

Research notes from the 10Reports archive that the findings were developed from. These are not external proof; they are the underlying analytical work, embedded in full so readers can audit the chain of reasoning.

graph TD
    Leo[Leonard Leo] -->|Executive VP| FedSoc[Federalist Society]
    Leo -->|Chairman| MFT[Marble Freedom Trust]
    Leo -->|Chairman| CRC[CRC Advisors]
    Leo -->|Chairman| Teneo[Teneo Network]
    
    FedSoc -->|Judicial Pipeline| SC[Supreme Court]
    FedSoc -->|Funding| JCN[Judicial Crisis Network]
    FedSoc -->|Funding| CF85[The 85 Fund]
    FedSoc -->|Funding| Concord[Concord Fund]
    
    MFT -->|Funding| $1.6B[Barre Seid Donation]
    
    Teneo -->|Expands| Media[Media Mountain]
    Teneo -->|Expands| Biz[Business Mountain]
    
    SevenMtn[Seven Mountains Mandate] -.->|Coordinates with| FedSoc
    SevenMtn -.->|Funding via| Ziklag[Ziklag Network]

graph LR
    subgraph Religious Wing
        NAR[New Apostolic Reformation]
        SM[Seven Mountains Mandate]
        Ziklag[Ziklag Network]
        Wallnau[Lance Wallnau]
    end
    
    subgraph Legal/Institutional Wing
        FedSoc[Federalist Society]
        Leo[Leonard Leo]
        MFT[Marble Freedom Trust]
        JCN[Judicial Crisis Network]
    end
    
    NAR -->|Coordinate| FedSoc
    Ziklag -->|Shared Donors| MFT
    SM -->|Implement via| FedSoc
    Wallnau -->|Political Strategy| Leo

flowchart TD
    subgraph "SOURCE"
        BS[Barre Seid]
        Tripp[Tripp Lite Electronics]
    end
    
    subgraph "MARBLE FREEDOM TRUST"
        MFT[Marble Freedom Trust<br/>$1.6B]
    end
    
    subgraph "INTERMEDIARIES"
        DT[DonorsTrust]
        CF[The Concord Fund]
        RF[The 85 Fund]
        RLT[Rule of Law Trust]
    end
    
    subgraph "RECIPIENTS"
        FedSoc[Federalist Society]
        JCN[Judicial Crisis Network]
        CRC[CRC Advisors]
        FGA[Foundation for<br/>Government<br/>Accountability]
        HEP[Honest Elections<br/>Project]
    end
    
    BS -->|Donates company| Tripp
    Tripp -->|Tax-free transfer| MFT
    MFT -->|$41M| DT
    MFT -->|$55.5M| CF
    MFT -->|$20M+| RF
    MFT -->|Grants| RLT
    
    DT -->|$17.1M| RF
    CF -->|$6M| CRC
    CF -->|Media buys| JCN
    RF -->|Grants| FGA
    RF -->|Grants| FedSoc
    RLT -->|Grants| FedSoc
    HEP -->|Voting<br/>restriction<br/>advocacy| JCN

flowchart LR
    subgraph "BEFORE SALE"
        BSeid[Barre Seid<br/>Owns Tripp Lite]
    end
    
    subgraph "TRANSFER"
        BSeid -->|Donates 100%<br/>to MFT| MFT[Marble Freedom Trust<br/>501(c)(4)]
    end
    
    subgraph "SALE"
        MFT -->|Sells to<br/>Eaton| Eaton[Eaton Corporation<br/>$1.65B]
    end
    
    subgraph "RESULT"
        Eaton -->|Tax-free<br/>capital gains| MFT
    end
    
    style MFT fill:#f96,stroke:#333
    style Eaton fill:#9f9,stroke:#333