FBI investigates Spy Ring’s political contributions
Federal prosecutors are investigating possible campaign finance violations related to an undercover operation in Wyoming that sought to infiltrate progressive groups, political campaigns and the offices of elected representatives ahead of the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the case and documents related to to the case.
As part of the operation, revealed in 2021 by The New York Times, participants used large campaign donations and cover stories to gain access to their targets and collect dirt to sabotage the reputations of people and organizations seen as a threat to the president’s agenda. Donald J. Trump.
In recent days, prosecutors have issued subpoenas for at least two of the people The Times identified as part of the operation, including Richard Seddon, a former British spy, and Susan Gore, a Wyoming heiress to the Gore-Tex fortune , people said. The subpoenas were previously reported by CNN.
Washington prosecutors and FBI agents are seeking a wealth of information related to the political espionage operation, including documents related to Mr. Seddon’s firm, Branch Six Consulting International, according to one of the subpoenas reviewed by The Times. , along with at least two other entities to his name.
Prosecutors also sought communications, documents or financial records related to Erik Prince, the international security adviser, as well as former agents who worked for the conservative group Project Veritas and its founder. Mr. Prince and Mr. Seddon have been friends for a long time.
The agents who worked for Mr. Seddon made several large political donations, including $20,000 to the Democratic National Committee, which gave them access to a 2020 Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas. They also made donations to Senator’s election campaigns Mark Kelly and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, as well as the Wyoming Democratic Party.
Mr. Seddon used money from Mrs. Gore to fund the operation. Ms. Gore has said publicly that she was unaware that her money was being used for sabotage operations. Robert Driscoll, a lawyer for Mr Seddon, declined to comment. Nicholas Gravante, a Manhattan attorney for Ms. Gore who represents many high-profile clients, also declined to comment.
It’s not clear if the agents who made the donations – Beau Maier and Sofia LaRocca – did it on behalf of someone and were reimbursed. Both were named in the summons reviewed by The Times. It’s also unclear whether the pair had been subpoenaed or cooperated with federal authorities.
The FBI declined to comment.
According to a person with direct knowledge of the operation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified details, Mr. Seddon closely supervised the two agents, who sent him weekly intelligence reports on their activities and targets.
Under federal law, it is illegal to make campaign donations at the behest of another person and receive compensation for doing so. So-called straw donations have been at the center of several federal investigations.
According to interviews and documents obtained by The Times, the operation began in 2018, when Mr. Seddon convinced several former employees of Project Veritas — the conservative group that runs covert sting operations — to move to Wyoming and join his new venture.
Mr. Seddon, who was working for Mrs. Gore at the time, wanted to create espionage operations in which undercover agents would infiltrate progressive groups and the offices of elected officials, and possibly recruit others to gather information.
It’s unclear how much information Mr. Seddon’s agents gathered, or what else the operation turned up. But using professional intelligence-gathering techniques to try to manipulate the politics of different states showed greater sophistication than more traditional political “dirty tricks” operations.
It also showed a degree of paranoia in some ultra-conservative Republican circles that the electoral map in the United States could turn against them. In particular, there was concern that even a rock-solid Republican state like Wyoming could gradually turn toward the Democrats, as nearby Colorado and Arizona had done.
Republicans have tried to install allies in various positions at the state level to gain an advantage on the electoral map. For example, secretaries of state play a critical role in certifying election results every two years, and some have been targeted by Mr. Trump and his allies in their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
One target of the spy gang was Karlee Provenza, a police reform advocate who won a seat in the Wyoming legislature representing one of the few Democratic districts in the state. Ms. Provenza said she was encouraged that federal authorities had not ignored the episode, while Wyoming officials did not act.
“I’m glad to see the Justice Department investigating efforts to dismantle democracy in Wyoming,” she said. “The actions of Susan Gore and the people she supports have not been verified since this espionage operation was exposed.”
In 2017, Mr. Seddon was recruited to join Project Veritas by Mr. Prince, the former head of Blackwater Worldwide and brother of Betsy DeVos, who was Mr. Trump’s education secretary at the time. According to people with knowledge of Mr. Prince’s role, he believed that Mr. Seddon could make Project Veritas a more professional intelligence-gathering operation.
Soon after, Mr. Seddon was plotting an effort to discredit perceived enemies of Mr. Trump within the US government, including a planned 2018 sting operation against Mr. Trump’s then-National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster. He also helped set up operations to secretly capture FBI employees and other government officials.