Swiss billionaire behind Dem ‘dark money’ donations despite not being US citizen

 A Swiss octogenarian billionaire has donated tens of millions of dollars to Democratic politicians and progressive causes in “dark money” contributions — and Hansjörg Wyss is likely funneling millions more to influence midterm elections in November, sources say.

One Virginia-based think tank estimates that, since 2016, nonprofits linked to Wyss have funneled more than $253 million to Democratic candidates and related causes, such as voter registration initiatives that benefit the party and efforts to impeach former President Donald Trump, through a dizzying array of related nonprofits.

“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 said the total amount allegedly funneled by Wyss’ nonprofits to Democratic advocacy groups is likely “much, much higher,” but estimates are difficult to track as cash is often transferred through nonprofits that have more than a year’s lag time to publicly report their donations to the IRS.

Wyss, 86, is not a US citizen or permanent resident, and cannot directly or even indirectly make contributions to federal political candidates, according to a 2021 complaint to the Federal Election Commission filed by Americans for Public Trust. The group is suing the FEC in district court in Washington, DC, alleging that the federal agency has been slow to act on its 2021 complaint against Wyss.

Worth more than $5 billion, Wyss resides in the US under an E-2 investor visa, according to court papers.

“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 Capital Research Center, a Washington, DC-based conservative think tank that studies philanthropy and nonprofits.

“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.”

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.

In 2020, according to tax filings, Wyss’ Berger Action Fund donated $1,345,000 to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, an advocacy group started in 2003 by longtime Democratic strategist John Podesta and billionaire George Soros, among others.

Wyss and a host of other billionaires are also linked to Arabella Advisors, “a secretive liberal dark-money juggernaut” that spent more than a billion dollars to help Biden become president, Sutherland said. Founded in 2005 by Eric Kessler, a Clinton administration official, the fund manages a network of five nonprofits — the New Venture Fund, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Hopewell Fund, the Windward Fund and the North Fund — that dole out millions to grassroots groups across the country.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund donated more than $60 million to Democratic PACs and Biden, Sutherland said.

The 2021 complaint by Americans for Public Trust 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.”

The complaint also notes that “the law prohibits foreign nationals from making contributions to political committees whether directly or indirectly.”

A spokeswoman for the Wyss Foundation and the Berger Action fund called the complaint “a frivolous and baseless lawsuit levied by a partisan dark money group.”

Wyss, who has lived quietly in Wilson, Wyo., for decades, made international headlines Wednesday as part of a group of investors who were given the green light by the British government to buy the Chelsea Football Club after its outgoing owner, Roman Abramovich, was sanctioned over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Wyss also attempted to buy Tribune Publishing, which publishes the Chicago Tribune, among other newspapers, but withdrew his bid last year.

Born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1935, Wyss has a master’s degree in engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He first came to the US as an exchange student in 1958, according to reports, and completed an MBA at Harvard Business School seven years later.

The billionaire has also donated more than $1 billion to environmental causes and pediatric health through the Wyss Foundation, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit he set up in 1998. It funds the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, which is devoted to research in bioengineering. The foundation has also donated $5 million to a children’s orthopedic center at the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital.

“The Wyss Foundation and Berger Action Fund support causes such as conservation of public lands, access to health care and a strong economy,” said Marnée Banks, a spokeswoman for the Wyss Foundation and the Berger Action Fund. “Both organizations expressly prohibit their grantees from using grant funds for electoral activities, including to support or oppose political candidates or parties.”

Wyss made his money selling medical devices through Synthes, a company he founded in the 1970s and sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2012 for nearly $20 billion. He is on the board of directors of the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank with close connections to the Biden administration. Other board members include Abrams, Podesta and billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer.