A Democratic Party-linked shadow finance group with significant support from foreign billionaires is spending tens of millions of dollars to influence voting efforts ahead of the November election, according to a new report.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund received $143 million in support from 2019 to 2022 from the Berger Action Fund, a nonprofit organization funded by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss. This election cycle, the Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent approximately $23 million on multiple get-out-the-vote efforts. The report by the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust (APT) addresses issues such as abortion, minimum wage policies and election reform.
APT and others believe that Wyss is not an American citizen and is not a Swiss billionaire. live The Wyoming resident was vague about his naturalization status.
“I never felt the need to become a nationally qualified person,” Wyss once told a Swiss newspaper. [U.S.] He said he found the process “too complicated,” according to APT. Wyss’ sister wrote a book in 2014 titled “My Brother,” in which she wrote that Wyss “never applied.” [U.S.] “Civil Rights”, RealClearPolitics reported. Wyss, who made his fortune selling medical equipment, had not disclosed whether he was a U.S. citizen as of 2021, The New York Times reported. reported.
APT alleges that Wyss’ arrangement with the Sixteen Thirty Fund allowed him to spend money to influence U.S. elections despite being a foreign national. (Stream The Daily Caller’s documentary “Cleaning Up Kamila” here)
“Foreign money is currently influencing our politics through loopholes that most mainstream media outlets and politicians ignore or are unaware of,” APT President Caitlin Sutherland told the Daily Caller News Foundation. It’s unconscionable,” he told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Activists like those behind the Six Thirty Fund are targeting highly competitive states. Through these ballot measures, they not only encourage left-wing legal reform, but also, as the public openly admits, It’s also to give momentum to the leading liberal candidates.” That’s their goal. ”
some Democratic Party strategist 16 They see the abortion referendum, which the Saaty Fund has supported with large sums of money, as a way to sway people to their party’s candidates. 16 The Saaty Fund has poured millions of dollars into ballot initiative campaigns in Arizona, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, and Ohio, all of which have competitive presidential or U.S. Senate races. , sometimes both.
A voting booth at the Grass Elementary School polling place in Eagle Pass, Texas, on November 8, 2022. (Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images)
According to APT, federal law does not currently prohibit funding voting measure campaigns with foreign currency. However, foreigners are prohibited from making direct contributions to candidates or political action committees.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent a total of $115 million on state ballot issues since 2014, and Wyss has spent at least $234 million on state ballot issues since its founding, according to an analysis of APT’s campaign finance and nonprofit records. Donating to an organization.
“State legislatures and the U.S. Congress should act to close this loophole of foreign influence,” the report’s conclusions state. “Foreign nationals are already prohibited from donating to U.S. political candidates, committees, and super PACs, and a similar ban should apply to state ballot-issuing campaigns…U.S. It should be for the American people.”
When contacted by DCNF in February, a spokesperson for the Berger Action Fund would not comment on whether Wyss funds supported political activities, but said, “We comply with the laws and regulations governing our activities. “We prohibit the use of that grant money for assistance.” Opposing a political candidate or party or participating in an election campaign. ”
The Sixteen Thirty Fund and the Burger Action Fund did not immediately respond to DCNF’s requests for comment.
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