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Washington, D.C. — Just weeks after we learned Leonard Leo’s network was the recipient of the largest political donation in history, the New York Times has revealed more about his personal involvement and profit from a constellation of right-wing non-profits. Today’s reporting shows Leo’s efforts to reshape American society focus on “restricting abortion rights in the states; ending affirmative action; [and] defending religious groups accused of discriminating against L.G.B.T.Q. people.”

The campaign to strip Americans of their rights has been a windfall for Leo and his cronies. In fact, since 2016 “grant-making hubs in his network and the recipients of their money have paid more than $30 million to the firms owned at least partly by Mr. Leo, CRC Advisors and BH Group.” He’s also been paid “more than $2.7 million in personal salary or consulting fees during roughly that time period by non-profit groups in the network and their grantees.”

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The more information that comes out about Leo, the more we can see he’s been the architect of the right-wing agenda to strip Americans of rights, while enriching himself every step along the way. Leo’s machine is rolling back reproductive rights, voting rights, and progress on climate change.”

Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US

Read the new reports from the New York Times here and here, highlights below:

  • The 85 Fund and Concord Fund (formerly known as the Judicial Education Project and Judicial Crisis Network) have paid Leo’s BH Group more than $7.4 million since 2016. They’ve also paid CRC Advisors $18.3 million since Leo joined the right-wing consulting company in 2020.
  • Before leaving the Federalist Society for CRC Advisors, Leo was raking in $500,000 per year influence peddling for right-wing causes and donors. The Federalist Society has paid CRC more than $1.5 million since he became a partner.
  • One of CRC’s largest clients is the oil giant Chevron, and it also provides consulting services to Consumer’s Research, which is engaged in a campaign to ban private sector climate innovation and kneecap environmental regulators.

Accountable.US recently launched Monitoring Influence to provide Americans with information about Leo and other right-wing activists attempting to undermine our democracy.

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