Two Arizona brothers were arrested and charged with conducting a $50 million scheme over a 10-year span to bilk donors to at least nine political action committees who thought they were supporting anti-abortion and law enforcement causes, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
The men, William Tierney and Robert Tierney, were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy, according to Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William Sweeney Jr., the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office. The brothers were expected in court in Arizona on Thursday.
The men started six PACs and managed an additional three, the complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court states. The nine PACs, referred to as “scam PACs,” raised more than $23 million from 2014 to 2017, and more than $50 million in the past decade.
But the Justice Department said the organizations were started solely to “enrich the defendants and their co-conspirators.”
“The defendants, as alleged, capitalized on the sympathy and activism of those who sought to support awareness of various causes near and dear to their hearts,” Sweeney said in a statement. “Instead, virtually none of the money raised was used for its intended purpose, and the so-called political action committees served as nothing more than a front for an extensive personal fundraising campaign.”
According to the complaint, William Tierney, 46, and Robert Tierney, 40, targeted people across the country and raised money based on false claims their contributions would support “voter education regarding, and the political campaigns of those who supported” a number of causes, including “autism awareness,” “law enforcement appreciation,” and anti-abortion causes.
The scam PACs claimed the money would be used for “coast to coast” education and advocacy campaigns, to work with local groups and organizations, and “investing every penny … in the big races to come,” the Justice Department said.
But nearly all the money raised allegedly went to the two Arizona men and others who participated in the scheme. Of the $23 million raised from 2014 to 2017, roughly $109,000 went to political candidates, according to the complaint. More than $3.5 million, meanwhile, went directly to William and Robert Tierney. A third, unidentified person involved in the scheme received $250,000, the complaint states.
The government said less than 1 percent of donations to the scam PACs was spent on political contributions.
Several fake identifies were also used through perpetration of the scheme, according to the complaint. William Tierney allegedly used the name “Bill Johnson” when meeting and talking with officials at fundraising call centers. The name “Emma Smith,” described as a “volunteer coordinator” for one of the PACs, was also used in fundraising solicitations, though that person did not exist.
The Justice Department said the scam PACs purposefully solicited money from donors below $200, the Federal Election Commission’s threshold for itemized disclosure.
The two Arizona men allegedly took steps to avoid press coverage of the PACs’ fundraising events, even though they claimed to engage in national advocacy and awareness campaigns.
The six scam PACs they started are: Grassroots Awareness PAC, Americans for Law Enforcement PAC, National Campaign PAC, Voter Education PAC, Action Coalition PAC, and Protect our Future PAC. The remaining three, which were initially founded by others but managed by William Tierney and Robert Tierney, are: Life and Liberty PAC, Republican Majority Campaign PAC, and RightMarch.com PAC.
