David Brock, the founder of the website Media Matters, has been accused of illegally profiting from the transfer of millions of dollars from a nonprofit entity to a for-profit entity.
The complaint, filed to the IRS by a conservative watchdog group, lays out evidence that the nonprofit group American Bridge Foundation sent $2.7 million in tax-exempt funds to a for-profit company named True Blue Media that Brock owned, according to the Daily Caller.
That transfer, the complaint argues, is a violation of IRS rules that prohibit nonprofit groups from using tax-exempt resources to pay the personal and private expenses of people associated with them.
“David Brock, a leading leftwing political consultant, raises millions of dollars every year to influence the media, politics, and campaigns,” said Craig Robinson, the president of the Iowa-based Patriots Foundation that levied the complaint. “Behind the scenes, his network of organizations have engaged in very troubling behavior that warrants serious investigation.”
American Bridge President Bradley Beychok defended Brock, saying the group’s “investment” was authorized by the board of directors.
“To remove any potential conflict of interest, David Brock resigned as an officer and a member of the board of directors [of American Bridge] in 2016, before the first investment was made,” Beychok told the Daily Beast.
“American Bridge has a super-PAC arm that can spend unlimited sums to influence elections. But the primary purpose of nonprofits organized under section 501(c)4 of the tax code like American Bridge cannot be politics. The complaint quotes material given to potential donors to the nonprofit arm in 2017 saying the organization’s mission is ‘to take on Donald Trump,’” Bloomberg’s Bill Allison said about the situation.
