A non-profit watchdog legal firm wrote to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Wednesday, asking it to investigate charities linked to billionaire Mike Bloomberg for allegedly securing political support for his presidential run.
The group, Government Accountability and Oversight (not to be confused with the Government Accountability Office), lays out its concerns in a 10-page letter that accuses Bloomberg of using his non-profit charities in “for-profit, political use.”
The letter states:
In this letter, we lay out information in the public domain creating the appearance of and supporting a good-faith belief that Mr. Bloomberg, Bloomberg Family Foundation Inc., “Bloomberg Philanthropies”, or other entities affiliated with Mr. Bloomberg, may be operating in violation of the Internal Revenue Code.
Established media outlets have given widespread and fairly in-depth coverage to this pattern of Mr. Bloomberg and/or his Foundation, et al., using charitable dollars in ways that, with his campaign for political office now publicly underway and acknowledged, give the appearance that these expenditures were made to obtain political advantage for this political campaign and otherwise constitute impermissible political activity for an exempt organization.
…
Several documents obtained under public records laws reveal coordination between Bloomberg charitable expenditures and the for-profit, Bloomberg L.P. Certain records suggest this overlap between the work of senior “Bloomberg Philanthropies” officials and for-profit Bloomberg advisors (including Mr. Bloomberg’s current presidential campaign chairman) is significant, and understood among political beneficiaries.
…
Media outlets suggest the prospect of charitable grants effectively purchasing endorsements for an anticipated run for high political office. The appearance is undeniable. Further scrutiny yielded additional reasons for concern.
The letter asks the IRS to apply the same standard to Bloomberg that has been applied to President Donald Trump and his family’s charities, which have come under media scrutiny and government investigation.
In a footnote, the letter also refers to accusations that left-wing billionaire Tom Steyer, who like Bloomberg is also running for the Democratic nomination, allegedly used charitable donations to encourage lawsuits against fossil fuel companies.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.