Reproductive Rights Protestor Sues Maine Police in Case Tied to Leonard Leo
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** CfA's July 21, 2023 Newsletter
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With your support, Campaign for Accountability is working to expose corruption and hold the powerful accountable.
** This Week's Updates:
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Leonard Leo Confronts Freedom of Speech in Maine
During July of last year, a small group of pro-choice protesters gathered outside of right-wing judicial activist Leonard Leo’s vacation home on Mount Desert Island, Maine. They carried signs ([link removed]) that read “democracy, not theocracy,” and told local reporters that they were there to educate the public about Leo’s role in building the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority. 21-year-old Eli Durand-McDonnell and his mother were driving to the protest when they recognized Leo, who was walking through town with his wife and daughter. Durand-McDonnell, who sat in the passenger seat, yelled through the car window to tell Leo he was a “fascist.” Later, at the protest, Durand-McDonnell was arrested by Mount Desert police for disorderly conduct.
While the charges against Durand-McDonnell were dropped, he claims that the Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Police Department carried out a retaliatory arrest on behalf of Leo, who told officers that the man seemed “unstable” and “hateful.” Durand-McDonnell has chosen to sue ([link removed]) the police department for infringing on his freedom of speech – a right that Leo has zealously defended in the form of unlimited, anonymous political spending.
Earlier this year, CfA filed an IRS complaint ([link removed]) regarding seven non-profits associated with Leo, which appeared to be siphoning large amounts of money to businesses he owned. CfA’s complaint observed that, following the first multi-million-dollar transfer to one of his companies, Leo’s spending habits suddenly shifted; in addition to paying off an existing mortgage in Virginia, he purchased the properties on Mount Desert Island. If Leo was indeed enriching himself through these tax-exempt organizations, he would be violating IRS rules and subject to financial penalties.
Tech Corporations Set their Sights on Journalism AI
On Tuesday, OpenAI announced ([link removed]) that it would be donating $5 million to local journalism initiatives, including trainings to help reporters experiment with AI tools. Google followed up a day later by pitching an AI product capable of writing news articles ([link removed]) to the publishers of major papers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Google confirmed ([link removed]) that its product was “not intended to” replace journalists, and had been designed “in partnership with news publishers.” Regardless of Google’s intent, anonymous news executives said they were unsettled by the product.
Since 2010, Google has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to news organizations, which CfA’s Tech Transparency Project tracked in a 2019 report ([link removed]) . More recently, platform governance researcher Charis Papaevangelou released an updated tracker ([link removed]) for both Meta and Google’s news initiatives. In each report, a clear relationship emerged between regulatory threats and Big Tech’s journalism spending – an arrangement which, ultimately, leaves outlets dependent on their corporate funders. For smaller newsrooms that serve local markets, a combined financial and technical reliance on AI companies could be cause for concern.
CFPB Cracks Down on Predatory Tech Bootcamp
Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued ([link removed]) a tech sales bootcamp called Prehired, which charged up to $30,000 for a 12-week training program and encouraged consumers to pay off their debt with steep income-sharing agreements. The agency, joined by several state attorneys general, claims that Prehired misled students into believing they wouldn’t have to begin payments until they got a tech job paying more than $60,000. In fact, Prehired transferred ownership of its financing agreements to debt collectors, which then pursued consumers who hadn’t gotten relevant jobs or met the income threshold. While Prehired is far ([link removed]) from ([link removed]) the
([link removed]) first ([link removed]) tech bootcamp to take advantage of consumers, CFPB’s lawsuit could discourage future scammers and help make Prehired’s victims whole.
What We're Reading
Key Senate committee advances Supreme Court ethics bill ([link removed])
‘Trustworthy AI’ executive order in the works for agencies to keep risks in check ([link removed])
IRS steps toward a new free-file tax return system have both supporters and critics mobilizing ([link removed])
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Here is how you can stay involved and help us accomplish our mission:
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Be on the lookout for more updates about our work in the upcoming weeks. Thanks again for signing up to be a part of CfA!
Sincerely,
Michelle Kuppersmith
Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability
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