{"id":2206693,"date":"2024-03-26T16:00:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T20:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-judge-says-dark-money-behemoth-arabella-advisors-must-open-its-books\/"},"modified":"2024-03-26T16:02:45","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T20:02:45","slug":"federal-judge-says-dark-money-behemoth-arabella-advisors-must-open-its-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-judge-says-dark-money-behemoth-arabella-advisors-must-open-its-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge orders transparency for Arabella Advisors, a major dark money organization"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffederal-judge-says-dark-money-behemoth-arabella-advisors-must-open-its-books%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2206693&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The \u2064largest subsidiary of Arabella Advisors,\u200b a liberal dark money entity, faces scrutiny as a former executive alleges\u2062 unfair termination for \u2062exposing charity law violations. The \u200cex<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/emails-and-texts-prove-biden-more-involved-in-hunters-business-dealings-than-previously-acknowledged\/\" title=\"Emails and Texts Prove Biden More Involved in Hunter\u2019s Business Dealings Than Previously Acknowledged\">-vice president&#8217;<\/a>s lawsuit \u200dreveals alleged IRS \u200btax law breaches and \u2063manipulation of\u200b a nonprofit to influence politics. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-us-officials-have-first-hand-knowledge-of-secret-ufo-program-rubio\/\" title=\"Rubio: US Officials Aware of Secret UFO Program\">ongoing investigation led<\/a> \u200dby District of Columbia \u200cattorney general Brian Schwalb \u2062poses significant risks to Arabella Advisors&#8217; financial structure.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The largest subsidiary of the liberal dark money behemoth Arabella Advisors will soon have to open its books to a former executive, who alleges she was unlawfully terminated after blowing the whistle on the group\u2019s alleged abuse of charity laws.<\/p>\n<p>Former New Venture Fund vice president, Sarah Walker, alleged in an October 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Sarah-Walker-Amended-Complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> that she lost her job after warning her superiors that the group was violating IRS tax laws in 2020 and 2021 by secretly directing the 501(c)(4) nonprofit Secure Democracy to run ads against Republican lawmakers and lobby in over 20 states to expand mail-in balloting. New Venture Fund sought to dismiss the lawsuit, but Washington, D.C., District Judge Amit Mehta <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Amit-Mehta-Ruling.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">issued a ruling<\/a> on March 14 authorizing the case to proceed to discovery.<\/p>\n<p>Mehta\u2019s ruling comes at a precarious time for Arabella Advisors and its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-lawsuit-will-be-filed-today-against-mark-zuckerberg-and-the-dark-money-that-enabled-fraud-in-key-states-video\/\" title=\"NEW LAWSUIT Will Be Filed Today Against Mark Zuckerberg and the Dark Money that Enabled Fraud in Key States (VIDEO)\">dark money network<\/a>, which faces an ongoing investigation from District of Columbia attorney general Brian Schwalb (D.). In September, Schwalb issued <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/new-venture-fund-attorneys-order-group-to-prepare-records-for-dc-attorney-general-probe-internal-documents-show\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sprawling subpoenas<\/a> to Arabella and its funds seeking documentation on its business practices, as well as any records related to Walker\u2019s allegations, including those that could &#8220;create a risk to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leah-remini-says-her-16-year-old-daughter-keeps-her-woke\/\" title=\"Leah Remini Says Her 16-Year-Old Daughter Keeps Her \u2018Woke\u2019\">tax-exempt status<\/a> of [the New Venture Fund.]&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The ramifications of Schwalb\u2019s investigation could be calamitous for Arabella Advisors. The for-profit consulting firm relies on the nonprofit status of New Venture Fund and other affiliates to draw billions of dollars from Democratic megadonors like George Soros and the Swiss billionaire Hansj\u00f6rg Wyss.<\/p>\n<p>Walker\u2019s allegations center on whether New Venture Fund misused its charity status to achieve its political objectives from behind the veil of Secure Democracy, which shared its employees with the Fund. As a charity, New Venture Fund is prohibited from engaging in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blms-charity-status-at-risk-due-to-solicitation-of-funds-to-elect-democrats\/\" title=\"BLM\u2019s Charity Status at Risk Due to Solicitation of Funds to Elect Democrats\">overtly political activities<\/a>, but internal documents <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/top-democratic-operatives-were-quietly-pulling-the-strings-at-a-voting-rights-group-lawyers-say-they-may-have-broken-the-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">obtained by<\/a> the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> show that the charity had the final say over everything Secure Democracy did, including activities that its attorneys said crossed the line into politics.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Every lawmaker at the state level was misled,&#8221; a former New Venture Fund employee involved in Secure Democracy\u2019s state lobbying operations <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/top-democratic-operatives-were-quietly-pulling-the-strings-at-a-voting-rights-group-lawyers-say-they-may-have-broken-the-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> in July.<\/p>\n<p>Walker\u2019s attorneys <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Lanier-Letter-to-New-Venture-Fund.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">estimated<\/a> the New Venture Fund illegally subsidized Secure Democracy to the tune of more than $10 million in 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n<p>New Venture Fund placed Walker on administrative leave one day after she brought her concerns to its general counsel Andrew Schultz in late October 2021. But the charity still appeared to take her allegations seriously. New Venture Fund abruptly shut down Secure Democracy and replaced it with a new group, Secure Democracy USA, just three weeks after Walker blew the whistle.<\/p>\n<p>New Venture Fund ultimately cut ties with Secure Democracy USA in June 2022. Former staffers told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> the split was due to friction caused by the &#8220;Sarah matter.&#8221; Secure Democracy USA, which is also subject to discovery in Walker\u2019s lawsuit, did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Walker\u2019s attorney, Mark Lanier, told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> he was pleased with Mehta\u2019s ruling.\t<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sarah reported the problems she saw at New Venture Fund exactly in the manner she was required to do so and as set out in the employee handbook,&#8221; Lanier said. &#8220;We look forward to getting discovery to better expose the wrongdoing at New Venture Fund and further substantiate Sarah\u2019s claims that she was wrongfully terminated for bringing forward her concerns.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Arabella and New Venture Fund did not return requests for comment. However, a New Venture Fund spokesperson told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> in July that Walker\u2019s allegations were &#8220;false&#8221; and that the group complies with the law.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arabella Advisors&#8217; prominent subsidiary faces scrutiny as a former executive demands access to financial records. Sarah Walker, ex-vice president of New Venture Fund, claims wrongful termination for exposing alleged charity law violations. Walker&#8217;s lawsuit in October 2022 sheds light on internal disputes within the organization<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":2206694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/money.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2206693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/money.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2206693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2206694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2206693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2206693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2206693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}