A network of political non-profits formed by judicial activist Leonard Leo moved at least $43 million to a new firm he is leading, raising questions about how his conservative legal movement is funded.
Leo’s own personal wealth appeared to have ballooned as his fundraising prowess accelerated since his efforts to cement the Supreme Court’s conservative majority helped to bring about its decision to overturn abortion rights. Most recently, Leo reaped a $1.6 billion windfall from a single donor in what is likely the biggest single political gift in U.S. history.
Fundraising reports for 2022 have yet to be filed but spending by Leo’s aligned nonprofits on his for-profit business in 2020 and 2021 demonstrates the extent to which his money-raising benefited his own bottom line. And it shows how campaign-style politics — and the generous paydays that go along with it — are now adjacent to the Supreme Court, the one U.S. institution that’s supposed to be immune to it.
A POLITICO investigation based on dozens of financial, property and public records dating from 2000 to 2021 found that Leo’s lifestyle took a lavish turn beginning in 2016, the year he was tapped as an unpaid adviser to incoming President Donald Trump on Supreme Court justices. It’s the same period during which he erected a for-profit ecosystem around his longtime nonprofit empire that is shielded from taxes. Leo was executive vice president of The Federalist Society at the time.
The for-profit and nonprofit entities share more than just Leo’s involvement: The same longtime ally managing the books for two of his new leading nonprofits, Neil Corkery, is also chief financial officer of Leo’s for-profit company, POLITICO confirmed in IRS filings. One of those nonprofits paid the for-profit $33.8 million over two years.
“That’s a classic type of situation the IRS looks into if it appears you [via a nonprofit] are shoveling money to yourself in a for-profit context,” said Philip Hackney, an expert on tax law and charities who worked in the Office of the Chief Counsel at the IRS.
Leo’s Virginia-based CRC Advisors — a political consulting firm that was created in 2020 and for which he is chairman — declined to say what services it provided for the $43 million payments.
POLITICO also asked CRC how much of the millions in spending since 2016 by his aligned nonprofits Leo has kept for himself and about concerns by ethics experts that the lack of disclosure underscores the need for greater transparency around the court. Leo did not respond to multiple requests for comment. CRC also did not comment on Corkery’s role.
“CRC Advisors puts its clients’ money to work more effectively than any other enterprise of its sort and we are blessed to be able to have this kind of impact in our country,” the company said in a statement.
A web of nonprofits
The majority of CRC’s payments came through The 85 Fund, a rebranded dark money group that Leo has said he plans to use to fund conservative causes nationwide. Corkery and his wife, Ann, founded and ran the nonprofit under a different name for more than a decade, during which time Leo directed funds toward it. Such nonprofits are exempt from taxes and not required to disclose donors. It is now run by Carrie Severino, a former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas.
The official address for The 85 Fund, which has appeared for at least ten years on paperwork registering dark-money groups associated with Leo, is Suite 268 of a building in the Georgetown neighborhood of DC. It houses a UPS store, where an employee said there are no suites, only mailbox rentals.
Corkery “possesses the organization’s books and records” for The 85 Fund and Leo’s Marble Freedom Trust, which received the $1.6 billion, according to IRS filings. The two groups appear to have no websites, logos or official phone numbers other than Corkery’s in federal filings.
For more than a decade the Corkerys have also been board members or treasurers of organizations aligned with Leo that spent on campaigns opposing same-sex marriage and abortion rights and promoting judicial appointments.
CRC did not disclose Corkery’s CFO position in its annual report — which the state requires for “all principal officers” — or in incorporation filings in the state of Virginia. Corkery is listed as a CRC “beneficial owner” in company paperwork filed in Washington DC.
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Dark money and special deals: How Leonard Leo and his friends benefited from his judicial activism - POLITICO
