Who are the “dark money” donors supporting Biden?

(CNN) — A husband-and-wife duo whose fortunes are tied to investments in artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency trading are quietly emerging as the biggest backers of the main “dark money” group backing US President Joe Biden.

The second largest donation in 2022 to a nonprofit subsidiary of Future Forward, the main super PAC supporting Biden, came from a group led by James McClave and Emily Berger. The couple worked at Jane Street, a Manhattan trading firm, and McClave was an early investor in Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company.

Tax records reviewed by CNN, which were not previously reported, show that BEMC 4 Association — a nonprofit whose only two executives are McClave and Berger — donated $7.2 million to Future Forward USA Action in 2022, the most recent year. For which data is available. . That’s more than any other group except the George Soros-linked Open Society Policy Center, which gave $15.2 million that year.

Although Future Forward USA Action doesn’t disclose its donors, other nonprofits that donate to it report those contributions, and CNN analyzed tax return data released by the IRS to uncover some of them. Besides the Soros group and BEMC, the group’s top contributors in 2022 included other left-wing nonprofits such as the League of Conservation Voters and the Fund for a Better Future, which each gave $2.5 million, and the Hopewell Fund, which gave about $1.55. million

The millions flowing through Future Forward are an example of how wealthy donors on both sides of the aisle are using dark money groups to shape American politics without flying under the radar. And while Democrats like Biden have criticized the impact of dark money and pushed for reforms, they are also big beneficiaries of the system. The trend will continue this year: Future Forward announced plans to run the largest political advertising campaign ever by a super PAC in 2024.

Anna Masoglia, research manager at campaign finance watchdog group OpenSecrets, said spending by groups that don’t disclose their donors “leaves voters in the dark when they go to the polls.” “It’s very important so they know who is feeding the candidates they vote for and what special interests are playing a role.”

Tax records do not confirm whether the $7.2 million came from McClave and Berger individually or from other donors to groups they control. But BEMC only reported receiving donations that were in the form of a financial holding company or interests in a company. And it’s not uncommon for big donors to create new nonprofits to distribute their own money, Masoglia said.

Although McClave and Berger are not publicly known, they have quietly increased their political spending. The couple has given a total of more than $1 million in recent years to other Democratic Party groups and candidates in federal and state elections, records show, becoming top donors to progressives such as Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz and Manhattan prosecutor Alvin. brag.

McCleve was an early investor in Anthropic, which runs an AI chatbot cloud, having participated in the company’s Series A and Series B rounds in 2021 and 2022. He was a co-investor in the company with FTX founder Sam Bankman. Fried – who used to work. at Jane Street and was also a major campaign donor—before Bankman-Fried’s financial collapse and her conviction for fraud and conspiracy.

Jane Street is a major player in cryptocurrency trading, and McClave has expressed interest in the federal government’s crypto policies. In 2022, he wrote a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, requesting the regulator to allow a bitcoin fund to be listed on an affiliate of the New York Stock Exchange. Berger joined Jane Street after earning a PhD in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley.

The couple declined to comment through a spokeswoman. A spokesperson for Future Forward did not respond to a request for comment.

President Joe Biden arrives at a campaign rally in Manassas, Virginia in January. Future Forward, a pro-Biden group, announced that it plans to run the largest political ad campaign by a super PAC this year. (Credit: Julia Nickinson/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Like other prominent political organizations on both sides of the aisle, Future Forward operates as two affiliated groups: the super PAC, FF PAC, which is required to publicly disclose its donors, and the nonprofit, Future Forward USA Action, which is not. Both groups can post ads supporting or opposing candidates, although a nonprofit cannot make it a “main business” according to IRS rules.

After Future Forward ran ads endorsing Biden and the Democrats during the 2020 and 2022 campaigns, the Biden campaign publicly noted that it had become its Super PAC of choice. Senior White House adviser Anita Dunn told the New York Times last year that the group “has really earned its place as the leading super PAC supporting the Biden-Harris agenda and the 2024 effort.”

Future Forward said it has raised $208 million in 2023 between its super PACs and its nonprofits. Much of that dark money appears to have been raised by nonprofits, as the PAC reported raising about $25 million during the year, and more than $8 million of that was transferred from the nonprofit, according to Federal Election Commission records.

It’s unclear whether McClave and Berger or their nonprofit made additional donations to Future Forward last year: Their group won’t have to report donations in 2023 after the November election, and it won’t have to report its 2024 spending. November 2025.

Biden himself has criticized the influence of dark money, and has supported legislation that would force organizations that spend money on elections to more quickly disclose big donors.

“There is a lot, a lot of money flowing behind the scenes to influence our elections,” Biden declared in a 2022 White House speech, adding that “dark money erodes public trust.”

“Right now, advocacy groups can run ads on issues that attack or support a candidate until Election Day without disclosing who is paying for that ad,” Biden said, citing Future Forward USA Action. Describing the types of ads it can support. later this year.

Biden’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

In addition to supporting Future Forward, McClave and Berger’s nonprofit also donated another $7 million in 2022 to the Center for Voter Information, a group that works to encourage young people, women and minorities to vote and is run by a former Democratic political operative. is He also made small donations to two other left-wing groups.

McClave and Berger also head the eponymous BEMC Foundation, a private foundation that has donated a total of $2.5 million in recent years to Vox Media’s Future Perfect project, which produces news on global issues.