Washington, D.C. officials have opened an investigation into conservative kingpin and dark money maestro Leonard Leo, who was recently launched into the spotlight over his vast influence on U.S. politics, especially with regard to recent scandals surrounding Supreme Court justices.
According to Politico, a person with direct knowledge of the investigation said that D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is probing Leo and his sprawling network of right-wing dark money groups.
The exact focus of the investigation is unclear, but Politico pointed out that it comes after the publication reported in March that Leo’s personal wealth seems to have skyrocketed after one of his non-profits paid tens of millions of dollars to a for-profit company headed by Leo, called CRC Advisors, over the course of two years. Experts said that the revelations were questionable, raising concerns that Leo used money raised by his non-profits to personally enrich himself.
The report was shortly followed by a complaint by Campaign for Accountability filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the D.C. attorney general. The watchdog group detailed that Leo’s non-profit groups had diverted over $73 million over six years to Leo’s for-profit businesses — transactions that the group said warranted further investigation by government officials for potential abuse of the non-profits’ tax-exempt status for personal gain.
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Article URL : https://truthout.org/articles/dc-officials-are-probing-leonard-leo-and-his-dark-money-network/