Maia Cook, OpenSecrets

Billionaire Timothy Mellon has poured $165 million into 2024 elections — mostly for Trump

This story was originally published by OpenSecrets.

Timothy Mellon, heir to Gilded Age industrialist Andrew Mellon, has continued to pour tens of millions into the campaigns of former President Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Republican congressional candidates in 2024.

Mellon has pumped over $165 million into the 2024 election, making him the top donor fueling outside spending groups this year. Mellon is known as a “guardian angel donor,” a term given to contributors who are a political group’s top donor and account for more than 40% of the group’s funding.

In July, Mellon made a $50 million cash infusion to pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again, Inc., new Federal Election Commission filings show. This brings his total contributions to the group to $125 million this election cycle, including a $50 million check he wrote to the super PAC the day after Trump was convicted of 34 felonies.

Mellon’s latest $50 million contribution accounts for over 90% of what MAGA, Inc. raised in July. The super PAC ended the month with about $124.5 million cash on hand.

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Mellon’s first major foray into federal elections was during the 2020 cycle, when he poured $60.1 million into federal political committees supporting Republican candidates, including $20 million to pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. With two months to go until the November election, Mellon has more than doubled his giving in 2024.

This outpouring of support for conservative organizations was not always the norm for Mellon, who once backed groups with a focus on environmental, womens' rights and Native American rights. Timothy Mellon is an heir to his grandfather Andrew Mellon’s dynastic fortune, which positioned the Mellons as the 34th richest family in America, as of February 2024.

Andrew Mellon served as the U.S. Secretary of Treasury from 1921-1932 and was known for authoring policies during the Coolidge administration that reduced corporate taxes and increased revenue following World War I. Before entering politics, Andrew Mellon commanded a vast industrial empire, spanning banking, oil, coal, aluminum and shipping.

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Aside from his recent multimillion-dollar donations, Timothy Mellon is known to maintain a low profile. It is impossible to find more than one or two pictures of his face on the internet.

Mellon has been criticized for stances taken in his personal autobiography, where he called US safety net programs a “slavery redux” responsible for making black people “even more belligerent.”

Independent presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy. Jr., whose hybrid PAC American Values 2024 received $25 million from Mellon earlier this year, is quoted on the book’s back cover, praising Mellon as a “maverick entrepreneur.” Kennedy faced allegations of being a "spoiler" candidate who could siphon votes from major party candidates before suspending his campaign on Aug. 23. and endorsing Trump.

The bulk of Mellon’s public political donations were made in the last three years. The top five all-time recipients of Mellon’s federal political donations are MAGA Inc., Congressional Leadership Fund, American Values 2024, Senate Leadership Fund and Sentinel Action Fund — which is aligned with the Heritage Foundation supporting Project 2025.

The Congressional Leadership Fund and Senate Leadership Fund are super PACs aligned with Republican leadership in their respective chambers of Congress, and dedicated to electing GOP candidates to Capitol Hill. During the 2022 midterms, the Congressional Leadership Fund spent over $227 million to bolster Republican candidates, with a total of $66 million spent opposing 23 candidates who ended up losing.

The hybrid PAC has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Republican congressional candidates this cycle, including Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Ohio) and Rep. Laurie Buck (R-N.C.), and over $5 million to oppose Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.).

While the vast majority of Mellon’s contributions are directed toward federal elections, he made one state-level contribution of $1 million earlier this year to a group called Fair Courts America in Wisconsin that opposes court-packing and prosecutors they claim have received support from Democratic megadonor George Soros.

“Fair Courts America will fight woke judicial activism and defend our courts,” its website reads.

Before 2018, Mellon had not made any public federal contributions exceeding one million dollars. However, it is possible that he might have given more donations in the past through dark money groups, which would allow him to preserve his anonymity.

Aug. 24, 2024: This article was updated to reflect Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign suspension.

Koch network’s flagship super PAC pours big money into 2024 elections

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The Koch network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity, has spent two decades pouring money into influencing U.S. elections.

As the group celebrates its 20-year anniversary, its hybrid super PAC ranks third in outside spending in the 2024 cycle.

Americans for Prosperity Action, a hybrid PAC affiliated with the group, has spent over $257 million since 2004 to support conservative congressional and presidential candidates.

The organization is known for supporting reduced government spending, opposing collective bargaining, curbing environmental regulations, and backing the oil and gas industry.

Its website calls Americans for Prosperity “the premier grassroots advocacy organization transforming policy around the country.”

Americans for Prosperity has spent approximately $62 million to bolster Republican candidates and $10 million to oppose Trump in the 2024 cycle, as of August 6. Despite pledges to reach across party lines and work with Democrats in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s election, not a single penny has been spent in support of Democrats during the 2024 cycle.

Court decisions such as Wisconsin v. Right To Life in 2007, Citizens United v. FEC in 2010 and Speechnow v. FEC in 2010 spurred the proliferation of “dark money,” enabling organizations like Americans for Prosperity to legally raise and spend unlimited sums of money through 501(c)(4) nonprofits without having to disclose the original source of funding behind their donors’ network.

One out of every $5 fueling the Americans for Prosperity Action committee comes from nknown sources. Americans for Prosperity’s hybrid PAC has received large donations from Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, a dark money group that is part of the Koch network and gave the hybrid PAC $25 million.

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Heir to oil giant Fred C. Koch and his multinational company Koch Industries, Charles Koch founded Americans for Prosperity and spearheaded the Koch network along with his late brother, David. Charles Koch is ranked by Forbes as the 24th richest man in the world, with a family net worth of $67.8 billion as of August 2024.

His own company, Koch Industries, gave another $25 million to Americans for Prosperity Action in 2024. The hybrid PAC has also received contributions from Alice and Jim Walton, heirs to the Walmart fortune.

But since the hybrid PAC’s top donor is a dark money group that does not disclose its donors, millions of dollars come from donors whose identities remain undisclosed.

Americans for Prosperity was Nikki Haley’s second largest outside supporter in the 2024 presidential election, spending over $31 million to back her campaign during the GOP primaries. In a memo released in November 2023, the organization justified its decision to support Nikki Haley, writing, “Haley is more viable amongst GOP Primary voters to take on Trump.”

The presidential campaign of Ron DeSantis, who has since withdrawn from the race, responded to Americans for Prosperity’s decision to support Haley, arguing, "Every dollar spent on Nikki Haley's candidacy should be reported as an in-kind [donation] to the Trump campaign.”

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Americans for Prosperity’s hybrid PAC has spent approximately $10 million to oppose former President Donald Trump and over $9 million to oppose President Joe Biden, who withdrew from the race and has since handed over his campaign to Vice President Kamala Harris.

The political giving of employees of Americans for Prosperity tends to be in line with their organization’s viewpoints. Since 2010, a total of $150,000 has been contributed to Republicans and a mere $286 to Democrats.

Although Americans for Prosperity steers millions toward outside spending on elections, it has also been active on the lobbying scene for a decade — hiring 28 different lobbyists since 2014.

In 2023, Americans for Prosperity spent over $1.9 million between 17 lobbyists — setting a record for the most it has ever spent on lobbying fees in one year.

Lobbying firms working for Americans for Prosperity reported lobbying around 131 bills in 2023 filings, including companion bills in both the House and Senate.

A key issue that Americans for Prosperity lobbied on in recent years was immigration, including the Protecting Children of Long-Term Visa Holders Act, the Integrating New Technologies to Empower Law Enforcement at Our Borders Act, and the DIGNIDAD Act.

“Congress’s failure to strengthen our border and streamline lawful migration pathways created a system that undermines the rule of law and fails to meet the needs of American families, workers, and entrepreneurs,” Americans for Prosperity states on its website.

In addition to spending on lobbying, Americans for Prosperity’s foundation files amicus briefs weighing in on court cases.

The Americans for Prosperity Foundation filed 23 amicus briefs last year, 14 of which were for cases heard by the Supreme Court. The foundation has submitted 20 amicus briefs in 2024, as of August.

Recently, it submitted an amicus brief for a Supreme Court case No On E v. Chiu, which addresses “Whether requiring political advertisers to name their donors’ donors within their advertisements advances any important or compelling state interest.”

Americans for Prosperity argued that the requirement to disclose donors’ donors would abridge their First Amendment rights to “speak anonymously” and “associate freely,” and would “driv[e] civil society further into tribalism.”

OpenSecrets Editorial and Investigations Manager Anna Massoglia contributed to this report.

Pro-crypto super PACs pouring tens of millions into 2024 elections

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Former president Donald Trump’s selection of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), as his running mate is expected to turbocharge the cryptocurrency industry’s spending in the 2024 election cycle.

Vance, who owns up to $250,000 in Bitcoin, is a recent champion of the digital asset industry. During his time in the Senate, Vance has drafted legislation that would rework how the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulate the crypto community — much to the liking of crypto investors.

Crypto-backed super PACs are already pouring tens of millions of dollars into congressional races.

One pro-crypto super PAC launched in December 2023, Fairshake, has already spent $14.4 million to independently bolster the campaigns of crypto-friendly congressional candidates in the 2024 election cycle. The bulk of that spending has gone to attacking Democratic candidates in primaries but Fairshake has also spent to support candidates on both sides of the aisle.

Fairshake ended June with nearly $120 million cash on hand, an OpenSecrets analysis of new campaign finance reports filed July 20 found.

On its website, Fairshake pledges to “support candidates committed to securing the United States as the home to innovators building the next generation of the internet.”

“Providing blockchain innovators the ability to develop their networks under a clearer regulatory and legal framework is vital if the broader open blockchain economy is to grow to its full potential here in the United States.”

Since corporations themselves cannot donate directly to political candidates or party committees and individual donors are subject to strict contribution limits, cryptocurrency companies and their executives are taking advantage of making unlimited contributions to super PACs — which are allowed to raise unlimited sums of money to support and oppose candidates thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC.

Fairshake has received over $46.5 million in donations from Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the U.S. A blockchain-based digital payment network called Ripple has also deepened Fairshake’s pockets with contributions totalling $45 million.

Executives at a Silicon Valley venture capital firm called Andreessen Horowitz have given over $44 million to Fairshake since its inception. After Trump’s selection of Vance as his running mate, those executives — Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz — told employees that they plan to make large contributions to pro-Trump super PACs in the 2024 election cycle.

Trump — once a staunch critic of cryptocurrency — released his presidential platform saying, “Republicans will end Democrats’ unlawful and un-American crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency.”

In contrast, President Joe Biden’s administration has taken what some industry players have described as a “hardline” stance on cryptocurrency with the White House pushing for more regulation and appointing Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, to chair the SEC.

“We don’t need more digital currency,” Gensler stated in 2023. “We already have digital currency, it’s called the U.S. dollar.”

In the hours following Biden’s announcement ending his campaign, the price of Bitcoin briefly topped

$68,000, the highest increase for the cryptocurrency since June. The crypto community is increasingly curious to see whether Vice President Kamala Harris, who took over Biden’s campaign after his withdrawal from the race, will prolong Biden’s tight clamp on companies like Coinbase and Ripple or forge a new stance altogether.

Fairshake is affiliated with two super PACs. Defend American Jobs has spent $17.1 million to support pro-crypto Republican candidates in the 2024 elections while Protect Progress has spent $13.5 million supporting Democrats in the 2024 cycle. Together, the three pro-crypto super PACs have over $127.2 million on hand.

Like Fairshake, both of its affiliated super PACs are supported by Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase, Ripple, and Multicoin Capital.

Since its inception, over $12 million of Fairshake’s spending has gone to oppose two Democratic candidates, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) — both of whom lost their primaries. Fairshake launched attack ads on Porter, who has a history of allying with anti-crypto figures, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Porter’s campaign called the claims in Fairshake's attack ads “false.”

"We are making sure the 8 million crypto owners in California – who are disproportionately young voters who support Democrats – know about her hostility toward the technology and how that would hurt American jobs," said Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Fairshake, told CoinDesk, a cryptocurrency-focused news site.

Fairshake has supported pro-crypto congressional candidates across the political spectrum and has not yet commented on whether it will be supporting any presidential candidates.

As of July 24, the super PAC has spent over $702,000 to support Democrats including Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.). On the other side of the aisle, Fairshake has spent $551,600 to support Republicans including Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).

Emmer and Nickel are cosponsors on multiple pieces of crypto-centered legislation that have circulated in the 117th and 118th Congress, including the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, and the Digital Commodity Exchange Act — both of which seek to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets.

In a statement about the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, Gensler wrote, “The crypto industry’s record of failures, frauds, and bankruptcies is not because we don't have rules or because the rules are unclear. It’s because many players in the crypto industry don’t play by the rules.” He continued, “We should make the policy choice to protect the investing public over facilitating business models of noncompliant firms.”

On July 27, Trump made an appearance at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tenn., where digital asset leaders gathered to discuss the future of cryptocurrency. Attendees had the option of paying $844,600 for an exclusive event after Trump’s keynote — the ticket price being the maximum amount an individual can legally contribute to Trump’s campaign in 2024.

At the event, Trump laid out his “plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world.”

Ozempic-producer Novo Nordisk on track for record spending on lobbying in 2024

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Novo Nordisk — the pharmaceutical giant behind popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy — spent a record $3.2 million on lobbying in the first six months of 2024 as the Denmark-based company expanded its footprint in the United States.

In 2017, after two years of clinical trials, the Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk’s injectable weight-loss drug Ozempic strictly for adults with Type 2 diabetes. Four years later, the FDA approved Wegovy, another weight-loss drug that is not strictly for type 2 patients but contains the same active ingredient as Ozempic, semaglutide.

Although Ozempic was originally approved for patients with diabetes, some non-diabetics buy it for the purpose of general weight loss under “off-label” prescriptions. The popularity of these prescriptions has contributed to a shortage of Ozempic in the United States, leaving it out of the hands of those who need it most.

An estimated 15.5 million Americans, or 6% of the U.S. population, have reported using injectable weight-loss drugs, according to a Gallup poll released in May. These drugs rose in popularity in 2023 as Novo Nordisk launched an aggressive advertising campaign, spending a total of $471 million to market Ozempic and Wegovy in one year.

In 2023, Novo Nordisk and its U.S. subsidiary, Novozymes North America, spent over $5 million on lobbying, hiring a whopping 77 lobbyists across 13 firms. This marked a 51% increase from the number of lobbyists hired in 2022. Of those, 54 previously held government jobs, bringing insider knowledge and industry connections to each role.

Novo Nordisk lobbied a total of six bills in 2023, all of which were related to the pharmaceutical industry. Among these were the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act of 2023, the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023, and the FAIR Labels Act of 2023, all targeted at making medical care more accessible, equitable, and transparent to all Americans.

In addition to its lobbying efforts, Novo Nordisk has also been actively making campaign contributions in the U.S., spending over $497,000 between its PAC, employees, and executives in the 2023-2024 cycle, as of July 16.

Novo Nordisk currently charges around $1,000 for a month’s supply of Ozempic injections. The high cost of this medicine has been criticized for squeezing low-income patients with diabetes out of the market for life-changing drugs.

Medicare only covers Ozempic when it is used to treat patients with diabetes. Similarly, Wegovy is only covered for patients at cardiovascular risk. Yet, when used for general weight loss, Medicare does not cover the cost of Ozempic or Wegovy.

Novo Nordisk hired a law firm, Arnold & Porter, to lobby for Ozempic to be covered by Medicare as more and more Americans became customers in 2023.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) argues that the high price of these weight-loss drugs has the power to bankrupt the Medicaid system. In June, Sen. Sanders threatened to subpoena Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, criticizing Novo Nordisk’s high American price tag on Ozempic when it is significantly lower in other countries.

“The American people are sick and tired of paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Novo Nordisk currently charges Americans with Type 2 diabetes $969 a month for Ozempic, while this same exact drug can be purchased for just $155 in Canada and just $59 in Germany.”

Jorgensen voluntarily agreed to testify in a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing in September. The name of the hearing: “Why Is Novo Nordisk Charging Americans with Diabetes and Obesity Outrageously High Prices for Ozempic and Wegovy?”

How ‘scam PACs’ line their pockets by deceiving political donors

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The media’s most popular campaign finance stories often focus on where political money comes from. Stories about “dark money” groups and straw donor schemes continue to emerge, calling attention to opaque contributors and the special interests behind them.

But the spotlight is often less focused on where that money goes – how it is managed and spent. Exploring political spending is important because it can unveil fraudulent fundraising schemes, such as so-called scam PACs.

Scam PACs are political groups that deceive voters — and often donors — by fundraising under the pretext that they are supporting a specific candidate or issue-based cause, like fighting cancer or supporting veterans. In turn, this money is used to engage in more fundraising, setting in motion a vicious cycle of political swindling, often hurting elderly constituents.

On Aug. 17, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that a PAC treasurer – Robert Piaro (73) – and fundraiser – Richard Zeitlin (53) – were indicted for defrauding donors while soliciting money through a comprehensive telemarketing scheme. Persuaded by their faux advocacy, unsuspecting citizens gave millions of dollars to Piaro and Zeitlin’s scam PACs.

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Without knowing the signs, it is easy to mistake a scam PAC for a legitimate political group or a charity.

One way to identify a scam PAC is when a PAC reports that the majority of their expenses went towards ambiguous “fundraising” or “consulting,” or a large chunk of spending is attributed to covering “compliance and other administrative costs.” This is often a sign that PACs are not engaging in any political advocacy, because little or no money is actually being directed to support certain electoral outcomes.

Another way to identify a scam PAC is when its address is the home address of one of its vendors. Scam PAC operators often have personal connections with the vendors they list, some of them being members of the scam PAC itself. Given the nature of these connections, much of the money ends up lining the pockets of scam PAC operators.

OpenSecrets identified 86 potential scam PACs in the 2022 federal election cycle. These 86 PACs were identified by two criteria: (i) they spent over $100k and (ii) at least 50% of their itemized expenditures were classified by OpenSecrets as fundraising expenses. Of these PACs, 42% were identified as Republican or conservative groups and 19% as Democratic or liberal.

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In 2022, a scam PAC called the “Law Enforcement for a Safer America PAC” raised over $14 million, 87% of which went towards vague “fundraising” expenses. The PAC convinced voters to donate with heart-grabbing statements like, “[Law enforcement officers] kiss their children and spouses goodbye and go to work, not knowing if they will return home after their shift.”

The Law Enforcement for a Safer America PAC reported paying roughly $950,000 to a vendor called “Action Committee Marketing LLC,” all for the reported purpose of “fundraising, payment, technical & compliance services.”

The same scam PAC reported 124 payments totaling over $244,000 to a vendor called “LAV Services LLC.”

LAV Services LLC was incorporated in 2022, along with three other limited-liability companies, from the same Delaware address. It is likely these companies were incorporated for the sole purpose of engaging with scam PACs – its incorporators knowingly benefiting from the fraud scheme.

In 2019, an Arizona resident named William Tierney was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to operating multiple scam PACs. Tierney was accused of “[w]illfully and knowingly, having devised and intending to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, and for obtaining money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.”

The indictment identified nine scam PACs operated by Tierney. These included the “Grassroots Awareness PAC,” (also known as the “Autism Awareness PAC”) “Americans for Law Enforcement PAC,” the “National Campaign PAC,” the “Voter Education PAC,” the “Action Coalition PAC,” the “Protect Our Future PAC,” the “Life and Liberty PAC,” the “Republican Majority Campaign PAC,” and the “RightMarch.com PAC.”

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Another scam PAC called the “American Alliance for Disabled Children PAC” (also known as the “American Coalition for Autistic Children” and “Children’s Cancer Coalition”) raised over $2.2 million in the 2022 election cycle, 93.6% of which went to “fundraising.”

The American Alliance for Disabled Children PAC paid $816,000 to a vendor called “Public Support Services Inc.” for “fundraising, payment & compliance” services. The Law Enforcement for a Safer America PAC also reported nearly $1.6 million in payments to Public Support Services, all for “fundraising” services.

Public Support Services, a popular vendor among scam PACs, has very little information online. Public Support Services’ website has no more than six complete sentences. A third of the website is dedicated to a stock photo of businessmen sitting in an office meeting room, facing a screen displaying the word “analysis.

The FEC has a reputation for failing to prosecute political fraud due to commissioner partisanship, frequent deadlocks and dismissals, and weakness as a civil enforcement regime. And yet, Saurav Ghosh, the federal campaign finance director at the Campaign Legal Center, told OpenSecrets, “Scam PACs are one of the areas where the FEC does a better job of enforcing the law.” The FEC refers cases to the Election Crimes Branch of the Department of Justice when criminal jurisdiction is necessary.

Scam PACs are one of the only fraudulent fundraising schemes that receive bipartisan scrutiny from federal candidates. “A fun aspect of scam PACs is that it’s one of those unusual areas where candidates themselves really get worked up about it,” Ghosh said. “[Candidates] don’t love campaign finance laws because it makes their life more difficult. But in this area, scam PACs are siphoning money away from them. It’s one area where candidates want to see the law enforced.”

Committees Researcher Andrew Mayersohn contributed to this report.

OpenSecrets is a nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit research and news organization tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.