Koch-linked operative mum on mystery millions
Three years ago, the Center to Protect Patient Rights — a nonprofit grant-making organization fueled by the political fundraising network of conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch — made a seven-figure contribution to another nonprofit.
That transaction itself may not have been notable, except for the fact that the group, American Commitment, says it wasn’t the beneficiary of the money.
Now, Sean Noble — a political consultant who was chosen by the Koch brothers to quarterback their political efforts, and who signed the Center to Protect Patient Rights’ tax return disclosing the contribution under penalty of perjury — is refusing to explain where the missing $1.6 million went.
Noble did not respond to numerous requests for comment by phone and email. Upon two separate visits to Noble’s Washington, D.C., office, employees said Noble wasn’t there.
Reached by phone Monday after multiple inquiries by the Center for Public Integrity over two weeks, Jason Torchinsky, a lawyer who represents the Center to Protect Patient Rights, said he and his client are “reviewing the transaction.”
Torchinsky continued: “At this point, it is likely we will file an amendment, but what the amendment will be and when we will file it, I don’t know.”
When groups like Noble’s Center to Protect Patient Rights make grants to other organizations, they are, by law, required to provide detailed information about the beneficiaries. That includes not only the groups’ names but also their federal employer identification numbers.
That’s significant because in 2011, the Center to Protect Patient Rights told the Internal Revenue Service it gave $1.6 million — one of its largest grants that year — to a social welfare nonprofit called “American Commitment,” whose listed name and federal employer identification number matches the name and ID number of another group connected to Noble.
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This story is part of Primary Source. Primary Source keeps you up-to-date on developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
