Westerman, Gosar Investigate Foreign Donor's Potential Attempts to Manipulate US Environmental Policy

Letter

LCV has a longstanding, intimate relationship with Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and his constellation of nonprofits and political vehicles. Mr. Wyss began his foray into financing environmental activism in the 1990s. His bankrolling efforts intensified after he sold his medical device maker to Johnson & Johnson for roughly $20 billion in 2012. In a 2014 biography of Mr. Wyss by Heidi Wyss, Mr. Wyss's sister, she stated that 'what was important for him was to find out that he could exert an influence' over American policymaking through a nonprofit, particularly as it relates to energy production and conservation of public land. With Mr. Wyss's initial efforts to donate directly to candidates illegal because of his foreign national status, Heidi Wyss said Mr. Wyss sought a way to stay 'behind the scenes' while still playing 'an important part in American politics.' Then, in 2015, a leftwing consulting firm purportedly developed a plan for Mr. Wyss to shape American policy by financing progressive and environmental activism by routing money through a constellation of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) entities.

Subsequently, Mr. Wyss increased his financial support for favored environmental, policy, and political causes, often routing money through the Wyss Foundation, his 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and the Berger Action Fund, his 501(c)(4) political action fund. Most notably, according to public filings from the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission reviewed by the New York Times, since 2016, Mr. Wyss has contributed $245 million to the Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund. The New York Times describes the Sixteen Thirty Fund as a 'cryptically named…dark-money' 501(c)(4) entity that serves as a 'clearinghouse of undisclosed cash' for far-left causes. The Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3), are two of the four core nonprofits managed by Arabella Advisors. Arabella Advisors and the Sixteen Thirty Fund were both established by Eric Kessler, the former national field director for LCV. Mr. Wyss has been described as the 'progenitor of the Arabella network.'

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