Plus, the biggest scandal in Major League Baseball’s history.

View in browser ([link removed]) | Support our newsroom ([link removed])
[link removed]


** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, June 11, 2022

Hello! In this issue:
* How exploiting the Big Lie election myth has become a lucrative enterprise ([link removed]) .
* Anabolic steroids and baseball’s major-league lie ([link removed]) .
* A multimillion-dollar libel lawsuit against us challenges the First Amendment. We need your help ([link removed]) .


** NEW
------------------------------------------------------------


** She Helped Create the Big Lie. Records Suggest She Turned It Into a Big Grift.
By Cassandra Jaramillo
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote. Credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images

True the Vote has been a key player in giving rise to the myth that widespread voter fraud is undermining U.S. elections.

Yet the Texas-based nonprofit hasn’t proven its big claims – or even produced the evidence it promises.

Our new investigation ([link removed]) shows what True the Vote has been doing with its donations: It has engaged in a series of questionable transactions that has directed more than $1 million combined to its founder, a longtime board member and its general counsel. Based on thousands of pages of tax filings and court documents, the story highlights how promoting former President Donald Trump’s Big Lie has become a thriving economy.

The records show:
* Questionable loans: True the Vote regularly reported loans to founder Catherine Engelbrecht, including more than $113,000 in 2019, according to a tax filing. Texas law bans nonprofits from loaning money to directors; Engelbrecht is both a director and an employee.
* Insider contracts: Companies connected to Engelbrecht and longtime board member Gregg Phillips collected nearly $890,000 from True the Vote from 2014 to 2020. The largest payment – at least $750,000 – went to a new company created by Phillips. One expert called the contract “eye-popping” for its largess. Engelbrecht and Phillips also have been romantically linked in a court filing from a disgruntled donor.
* Big legal bills for failed strategy: True the Vote provided conservative superstar attorney James Bopp Jr.’s law firm a retainer of at least $500,000 to lead a legal charge against the results of the 2020 election, but he filed only four of the seven lawsuits promised to a $2.5 million donor, all of which were voluntarily dismissed less than a week after being filed. The donor later called the amount billed by Bopp’s firm “unconscionable” and “impossible.”
* Bad bookkeeping: The organization’s tax returns are riddled with inconsistencies and have regularly been amended. Experts who reviewed the filings said it makes it difficult to understand how True the Vote is truly spending its donations.

Legal and nonprofit accounting experts who reviewed Reveal’s findings said the Texas attorney general and Internal Revenue Service should investigate.

“This certainly looks really bad,” said Laurie Styron, executive director of CharityWatch.
Read the full investigation ([link removed])
📄 Related: 6 Takeaways From Our Investigation Into a Prominent Voter Fraud Nonprofit ([link removed])

More from our coverage on the threats to democracy:

• Read: Inside the GOP’s Purge of Local Election Officials in Michigan ([link removed])

• Listen: How Michigan Became the Test Lab for the Anti-Democratic Movement ([link removed])

• Read: Behind the Tweet That Became the Rallying Cry for the Insurrection ([link removed])

• Listen: How Misinformation Spreads, from Stop the Steal to Anti-Vaccine Conspiracies ([link removed])


** THIS WEEK’S PODCAST
------------------------------------------------------------


** Baseball Strikes Out
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

In the early 2000s, rampant steroid use across Major League Baseball became the biggest scandal in the sport’s history. But fans didn’t want to hear the difficult truth about their heroes – and the league didn’t want to intervene and clean up a mess it helped make.

This week on Reveal, we look back at how the scandal unraveled. The show:
* Revisits the steroid era to untangle its truth from the many myths.
* Examines the legacy of baseball’s so-called steroid era.
* Explores what it tells us about sports culture in America.

This episode is from the Crushed ([link removed]) podcast from Religion of Sports and PRX and originally aired in July 2021.
Listen to the episode ([link removed])

🎧 Other places to listen: Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , Google Podcasts ([link removed]) , Stitcher ([link removed]) or wherever you get your podcasts.
🎨 Illustration by Molly Mendoza for Reveal


** WE NEED YOUR HELP
------------------------------------------------------------


** Reveal Legal Team Goes to Court Tuesday to Defend Us From a Libel Lawsuit
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Planet Aid’s used clothing donation boxes can be found in parking lots across the United States. Credit: Amy Walters/Reveal

In front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, our legal team will defend us this Tuesday from a vexatious libel lawsuit filed by Planet Aid ([link removed]) over five years ago. We reported ([link removed]) on the charity’s possible corruption; the organization sued us and has been draining resources from us in hopes that we will retract our story or disappear completely.

This case is not just about us: It’s about protecting the freedom of the press and defending our democracy. Without robust protections for the press, there are no safeguards for truth.

Please show your support for our work, and for the First Amendment, by donating today ([link removed]) .
Donate before June 14 ([link removed])


** In Case You Missed It
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]
Migrant Children Died on Border Patrol Chief’s Watch. Then She Ran an Emergency Shelter Under Biden. ([link removed])

[link removed]
Our Drug Rehab Investigation Led to 96 Convictions and Millions in Restitution ([link removed])
This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Andrew Donohue and Kassie Navarro, edited by Sarah Mirk and copy edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
Copyright © 2022 The Center for Investigative Reporting. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for The Weekly Reveal newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
The Center for Investigative Reporting
1400 65th St., Suite 200
Emeryville, CA 94608
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.