John,

Not long ago, Leonard Leo was a relatively unknown Federalist Society official, but over the last 30 years he has become one of the most powerful people in America’s conservative movement, without ever being confirmed or elected.

He has helped to push the Supreme Court nominations of Justices Thomas, Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett–every conservative on the court–and received the largest dark money contribution ever at $1.6 billion.

Now, he is using his growing dark money network as a way to pour tens of millions of dollars into his businesses.

A new analysis from CREW shows that Leonard Leo’s firms have been paid over $102 million by conservative nonprofits between 2016 and 2022.

Data shows that the source of $90 million of these payments are from nonprofits directly tied to Leo, with an additional $12 million coming from groups who may have felt pressure to pay Leo in order to stay in his good graces.

John, nonprofit organizations are not meant to serve as get-rich-quick schemes for political operatives.

Leonard Leo formed the BH Group in 2016—no one knows what the firm did, and their only known clients were groups tied to Leo.

Soon after, Leo began living a more lavish lifestyle, conspicuously timed with when the BH Group started raking in millions from his own groups.

Those payments ultimately totaled nearly $13.5 million before the firm was apparently shuttered in 2020. BH Group never had a website or permanent offices, nor any identifiable employees beyond Leo himself. But the money began to flow, and Leo’s life appeared to change.

In the final weeks of 2016, the BH Group gave $1 million to the inaugural committee for Donald Trump, and the following year, Leo and his wife were named Stewards of Saint Peter by the Papal Foundation after pledging at least $1 million to aid world Vatican programs. In 2018, Leo and his wife paid off the 30-year mortgage on a $710,000 house his family bought in 2010.

They also bought an 11-bedroom summer house in Maine for $3.3 million, and paid off that 20-year mortgage just one year later, according to a complaint filed by Campaign for Accountability.

Then, in 2020, Leo took over a firm called CRC Advisors. Leo’s groups had already been ramping up payments to CRC for years, but now that Leo was chairman of the company and the head of a growing dark money network, the money started flowing to CRC in a way it never had before.

CRC’s cumulative income in the 2010s was at least $46.6 million, but in the four years that Leo took over, the firm has brought in nearly double that—more than $89 million—$76 million of which came from groups tied directly to Leo.

John, let’s be clear: it is illegal for nonprofit groups to serve as a conduit for personal enrichment, and Leo certainly has blurred the lines between his for-profit businesses and his nonprofit work.

Last year, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb reportedly opened an investigation into Leo for the massive windfall he appears to be receiving from his non-profit groups; but Leo has refused to cooperate, and his allies in Congress have even tried to give him cover. When asked by reporters, Leo has refused to detail what service he is providing in exchange for the millions of dollars his businesses are receiving from his nonprofits and other allied groups.

CREW will continue to work to uncover and trace the web of money behind Leonard Leo’s for-profit and non-profit ventures, and as we do, we’ll also keep fighting to hold him accountable for his illegal actions.

Thank you,

Robert Maguire
VP of Research and Data
CREW