The director of Americans for Public Trust is set to testify Wednesday about Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss’s covert influence campaign.
Swiss billionaire has exploited loopholes around foreign election interference to contribute more than $500 million towards progressive causes, according to a dark-money watchdog organization.
Americans for Public Trust executive director Caitlin Sutherland is set to testify Wednesday about preventing foreign interference in American elections, with a specific focus on Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss’s ability to exercise influence through his nonprofit organizations, National Review has learned.
“Mr. Wyss uses his two nonprofits – the Wyss Foundation, a 501(c)(3), and the Berger Action Fund (formerly called the Wyss Action Fund), a 501(c)(4) – to fund liberal groups across the nation. He has used these two nonprofit vehicles to pump over half a billion dollars into the U.S. political system,” Sutherland will testify to the House Administration Committee at a hearing Wednesday.
Americans for Public Trust has combed through public records to identify at least $250 million of funds directed from Wyss’s Berger Action Fund to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501 (c) (4) nonprofit organization overseen by Arabella Advisors, a billion dollar Democratic dark money network.
Sutherland’s testimony describes how the Sixteen Thirty Fund takes Wyss’s funds and engages in progressive issue advocacy, sidestepping laws prohibiting foreign activity in American elections. The organization directed millions of dollars into third party groups such as Empire State Voices and Unrig Our Economy to attack Republican lawmakers running in competitive races in New York, California, and Michigan that helped determine the House majority this cycle.
In 2024, the Sixteen Thirty Fund spent $37 million on ballot issue campaigns nationwide, including $14 million on an unsuccessful attempt to enshrine abortion legalization into Florida’s constitution. Overall, the Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent more than $130 million on progressive ballot referenda in 25 different states, Americans for Public Trust found.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund also invested $18 million in Super PACs this election cycle to support Kamala Harris and oppose Republican candidates running competitive congressional elections. The organization also propped up a libertarian presidential candidate and progressive independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn, who lost in Nebraska to incumbent Republican Deb Fischer.
Besides the Sixteen Thirty Fund, Wyss has used the Berger Action Fund and the Wyss Foundation to bankroll progressive organizations devoted to climate change and other issue areas, according to Sutherland. Wyss has provided over $230 million to a range of progressive activist groups such as Climate Power, Planned Parenthood, Indivisible, the League of Conservation Voters Network, National Redistricting Action Fund, and States Newsroom.
Wyss gave $5.4 million to Indivisible, an organization known for staging protests, and $5 million to the National Redistricting Action Fund, a group that seeks to redraw legislative maps in Democrats’s favor.
Wyss poured $95 million into the Fund for a Better Future and Climate Power to advance the Biden administration’s green energy agenda, and another $22.6 million to the League of Conservation Voters Network, a longtime left-wing environmental group. Likewise, Wyss donated $2.1 million to States Newsroom, a Democratic activist operation responsible for setting up local news outlets to publish favorable coverage for Democrats.
Ohio’s law banning foreign nationals from funding ballot measures is an example Sutherland cites for combating the issue of foreign involvement in American elections. The state measure passed over opposition from Ohio Democrats and Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias, who waged an unsuccessful legal challenge to Ohio’s legislation.
Once Ohio passed its law, the Sixteen Thirty Fund stopped contributing to a redistricting ballot measure designed to cost Republicans multiple congressional seats. Republicans strongly opposed the Ohio ballot proposal and it ultimately failed in November.
“Any vehicle that broadly influences the electoral process – from door knocking to ballot issues – should not be paid for by foreign dollars,” Sutherland’s testimony concludes.
“These are simple, commonsense loopholes to close, and I think we can all agree foreign billionaires, the UK’s Labour Party, and CCP officials should stay out of our politics.”