Hansjörg Wyss, an 86-year-old Swiss billionaire with ties to high-profile left-wing insiders such as George Soros and John Podesta, has reportedly donated tens of millions of dollars to Democrat politicians and liberals causes through his “dark money” network of nonprofits, despite being a foreign national — something federal election law explicitly prohibits.
According to a Virginia-based think tank, since 2016, nonprofits connected to Wyss have funneled over $253 million to Democrat candidates and related causes, including voter-registration efforts benefiting the party, as well as pushes to impeach President Donald Trump.
“The foreign dark money revolving door is at it again, this time with their eyes set on the midterms,” said Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of the conservative Americans for Public Trust. “Wyss has already funneled hundreds of millions through his nonprofits to liberal groups that influence our elections, and now those very same groups are poised to engage in every policy and political fight all the way until November.”
Sutherland claims the full amount allegedly funneled by Wyss’ array of nonprofits is probably “much, much higher.” But estimates can be hard to track because the cash is being moved through nonprofits, and these have over a year’s lag time to report their donations to the IRS.
Though he lives in Wyoming, Wyss is neither a U.S. citizen nor permanent resident. This means he cannot legally spend on federal political candidates directly or indirectly, as federal law explicitly bars foreign nationals (individuals who are neither citizens nor permanent residents) from injecting money into elections. Wyss, who is worth more than $5 billion, lives in the United States under an E-2 investor visa, per court papers.
Americans for Public Trust filed a 2021 complaint about Wyss with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The group is now suing the FEC in district court in Washington, D.C., arguing that the federal agency has been slow to act on the complaint.
“We know that for years Wyss has funneled millions of dollars to left-wing nonprofits that boost Democratic turnout and provide partisan campaign strategy,” said Hayden Ludwig, a senior investigative researcher at the conservative think tank Capital Research Center.
“By weaponizing charitable groups for political gain, he’s effectively bypassed campaign finance restrictions barring non-citizens from meddling in American elections. Given how much money the Left commanded in 2018 and 2020, I’d expect Wyss to continue pouring huge sums into these leftist groups in 2022 and beyond,” Ludwig added.
The New York Post noted of Wyss’ political activity:
Nonprofits that have received millions in donations from Wyss funneled more than $3 million to Stacey Abrams, who won the gubernatorial Democratic primary in Georgia Tuesday, and another $3 million to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2020, according to the most recent tax filings for Fund for a Better Future Inc., a California-based nonprofit that supports anti-Republican initiatives.
Fund for a Better Future received $14.7 million in donations in 2019 from the Washington-based Berger Action Fund, a nonprofit linked to Wyss, tax filings show.
The fund in turn doled out $3,137,000 to Fair Fight Action Inc., a nonprofit connected to Abrams, in 2020 and $3 million to House Majority Forward, a nonprofit with ties to Pelosi.
Fund for a Better Future also gave more than $17 million in 2020 to Priorities USA, a super PAC linked to President Biden, tax filings show.
According to tax filings, Wyss’ Berger Action Fund in 2020 donated $1,345,000 to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, an advocacy-focused group founded in 2003 by Podesta, Soros, and others.
Additionally, Sutherland says Wyss and other billionaires are linked to Arabella Advisors, a leftist dark-money network that collectively spent over a billion dollars to elect Joe Biden.
Founded in 2005 by Eric Kessler, a Clinton administration official, Arabella is made up of five nonprofits — the New Venture Fund, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Hopewell Fund, the Windward Fund, and the North Fund.
Per Sutherland, the Sixteen Thirty Fund donated more than $60 million to Democratic PACs and Biden.
Americans for Public Trust’s 2021 complaint claims that “Mr. Wyss indirectly funded federal electoral advocacy through his nonprofit organizations, the Wyss Foundation and the Berger Action Fund. The intended recipient of these funds was ultimately a variety of organizations whose primary purpose is to engage in electoral advocacy.”
Wyss made his fortune selling medical devices through Synthes, a company he founded back in the ‘70s and sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2012 for almost $20 billion. He currently sits on the board of the Center for American Progress along with Abrams, Podesta, and left-wing billionaire Tom Steyer.
