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New reporting from The New York Times today revealed even more potential self-dealing at the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), the far-right MAGA group led by Mark Meadows. Recent records show that CPI has paid at least $3.2 million since the start of 2021 to corporations led by its own leaders or their relatives. The new revelations build on previous reporting exposing an unusual arrangement possibly enabling CPI to abuse its nonprofit status, leading to an IRS complaint based on Accountable.US research.

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As more is revealed about the Conservative Partnership Institute's shady network of groups, its apparent grift and self-dealing deepens. While CPI and its leaders apparently believe they exist above the law, they don’t — and they must be held accountable.”

Accountable.US president Caroline Ciccone

The new reporting highlights recent tax filings revealing that the Conservative Partnership Institute’s three highest-paid contractors were all connected to CPI insiders, including the institute’s president, Edward Corrigan, and his brother, Patrick Corrigan.

CPI applied to the IRS and was approved as a tax-exempt nonprofit, meaning donations to the group are tax deductible, and its funds must serve the public good, not private interests. As The New York Times notes, “the nonprofit has pushed those limits by entwining itself with only one faction of American politics. It pays high salaries to some of Mr. Trump’s former officials, hosts retreats for Republican lawmakers at a rural compound and funds efforts to vet people and ideas for a second Trump term.” The questionable practices have led legal experts to raise concerns about self-dealing.

Previous reporting exposing CPI’s shady nonprofit network led the watchdog Campaign for Accountability to file an IRS complaint based on Accountable.US research. The complaint also alleges that by paying excessive compensation to certain officers and key executives, CPI appears to have violated the prohibition on private inurement.

Accountable.US’s Monitoring Influence database connects the dots between the Conservative Partnership Institute and other groups making up the far-right dark money network. Learn more at MonitoringInfluence.org.

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