FILE – White House chief of staff Mark Meadows speaks with reporters outside the White House, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Conservative nonprofits improperly used slush funds to pay former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows‘ legal bills, according to a complaint filed by a public corruption watchdog.
On Wednesday, Accountable.US submitted a five-page letter with the Washington D.C. Attorney General’s Office alleging that in 2022, two conservative 501(c)(3) groups moved roughly $1.1 million around in order to evade accountability for their spending and other related subterfuge to “mask the true beneficiary of the funds.”
“There is significant public evidence showing that both organization [sic] may be acting in a manner that is contrary to their nonprofit purposes, which is grounds for their immediate dissolution under D.C. law,” the complaint reads.
While fashioned as a request for an investigation, the complaint aims to have both the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) and Personnel Policy Operations (PPO) lose their nonprofit statuses.
According to the filing, PPO received a $1.15 million grant from CPI in 2022. Then, that same year, CPI provided a $1.13 million grant to a third non-profit, the Constitutional Rights Defense Fund. That final group, since shuttered, provided legal defense work for Meadows, according to The New York Times.
Notably, both CPI and PPO share an address in the nation’s capital. Prior reporting has described both of the Meadows-affiliate groups as influential organizations in a pro-Trump network should the 45th president re-take the White House in the November election.
More Law&Crime coverage: Mark Meadows unmasked in Arizona fake electors indictment, faces 9 felony charges
The complaint notes that groups can only maintain their non-profit status if they exclusively serve a series of limited public purposes. The filing goes on to note, citing precedent, that members and entities associated with a political party do not meet the qualifications for a “charitable class.”
“PPO appears to be operating exclusively for the private benefit of a small number of Republican Party operatives,” the complaint alleges. “If, as its website indicates, PPO was operated solely to provide legal defense costs to a small group of Republican operatives connected to Donald Trump, then it is operating exclusively for the private interest of those individuals, and is not serving any public purpose.”
The allegations leveled by Accountable.US against CPI more or less mirror those against PPO with regard to the alleged abuse of the public purpose component. But, the group goes one step further in CPI’s case – also accusing the group of being little more than Meadows’ own personal wealth-generating device.
More Law&Crime coverage: Mark Meadows claims ‘immunity from state prosecution’ in Georgia RICO case because he worked for Trump, demands a hearing that could put him under oath
The CPI website’s landing page features a video of Meadows, who is one of the group’s leaders.
Holding the title of “senior partner,” Meadows received a total compensation of $846,887 in 2022, according to the complaint. This payout was “almost $200,000 more than any other COP employee, and more than twice the salary of its president and CEO,” the complaint reads, adding that “no employee is more highly compensated than” Meadows.
“CPI is in violation of the prohibition on private inurement, which may lead to a revocation of its status as a 501(c)(3) organization,” the complaint goes on. “Private inurement occurs when a tax exempt organization’s funds earnings inure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of an organization ‘insider,’ such as a director, officer, founder, key employee, or major contributor.”
More Law&Crime coverage: ‘That just cannot be right’: Appellate judges grill Mark Meadows’ lawyer about Hatch Act and whether client ‘could do anything’ as Trump’s chief of staff
Such alleged “private inurement” could also be grounds for dissolution under D.C. law, the watchdog group says.
“The Conservative Partnership Institute apparently believes it exists above the law as it operates a shady network of groups to seemingly get around clear nonprofit restrictions and move large sums of money without typical transparency requirements,” Accountable.US President Caroline Ciccone said in a statement. “Even further, this flow of money raises serious questions about whether CPI may be using its funds to provide legal defense for its indicted leaders, which would be a clear violation of its nonprofit status. The Conservative Partnership Institute and its leaders must be held accountable.”
Law&Crime reached out to CPI and PPO for comment on this story but no response was immediately forthcoming at time of publication.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
