Right-wing mogul funneled $1.6 billion to conservative legal group using shady tax avoidance scheme

A right-wing businessman funneled $1.6 billion to a new political group controlled by conservative legal activist Leonard Leo.

Electronics manufacturing mogul Barre Seid donated 100 percent of the shares of his Chicago-based company Tripp Lite to Leo's group before selling his business to an Irish conglomerate in a transaction that appears to be structured to avoid tax liabilities, reported the New York Times.

“It’s high time for the conservative movement to be among the ranks of George Soros, Hansjörg Wyss, Arabella Advisors and other left-wing philanthropists, going toe-to-toe in the fight to defend our constitution and its ideals,” Leo told the newspaper, but Seid did not respond to a request for comment.

Leo, who helped shape the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority during his years as executive vice president of the Federalist Society, and his nonprofit Marble Freedom Trust now have more cash on hand than the $1.5 billion spent by the top 15 politically active nonprofit organizations Democratic campaigns in 2020, and nearly double the $900 million spent by 15 of the most politically active GOP groups.

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The arrangement is difficult to trace through public records, but a person with knowledge of the matter said Seid donated the Tripp Lite shares to Marble months before the deal with Eaton, a publicly traded Irish company, was announced in January 2021.

Marble Freedom Trust is registered as a 501(c)4 organization that focuses primarily on "social welfare," and so is exempt from paying taxes, and supporters cannot deduct donations from their income taxes -- but they can donate assets the nonprofit can sell and avoid capital gains taxes on that transaction.

“These actions by the super wealthy are actually costing the American taxpayers to support the political spending of the wealthiest Americans,” said Ray D. Madoff, a professor of tax law at Boston College.

Groups linked to Leo spent $122 million in 2020 promoting conservative judges, restricting access to abortion and defending measures to limit voting rights, and Marble had $1.4 billion to spend at the end of April 2021, although it cannot be donated directly to campaigns or party committees.