@T_Lawler93 - MichiganAnon93

A thread 🧵 into Hansjörg Wyss Who is Hansjörg Wyss and what is he involved with? “Hansjorg Wyss (Hansjörg, sometimes spelled Hansjoerg; pronounced “Veese”) is a Swiss entrepreneur and businessman. He is the former CEO of multinational medical device manufacturer Synthes. Wyss’ net worth is estimated to be over $6.1 billion. Wyss is an active philanthropist, giving through his private foundation, the Wyss Foundation, which supports liberal civic and environmentalist projects. 2 In addition, Wyss is a political supporter of center-left groups and politicians. Wyss’ support for liberal political groups through his Wyss Foundation and its associated 501(c)(4) lobbying arm, the Berger Action Fund (formerly “Wyss Action Fund”), has earned him criticism from conservative and liberal groups and journalists. The New York Times has criticized Wyss for “quietly” becoming an “influential force among Democrats” through his nonprofits, and a “leading source of difficult-to-trace money to groups associated with Democrats.” As the Times put it: “He is not as well known as wealthy liberal patrons like George Soros or Tom Steyer. His political activism is channeled through a daisy chain of opaque organizations that mask the ultimate recipients of his money. But the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss has quietly become one of the most important donors to left-leaning advocacy groups and an increasingly influential force among Democrats.” In April 2021, the New York Times criticized Berger Action Fund for donating $10.8 million between 2016 and 2017 to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) funding and fiscal sponsorship nonprofit part of a $731 million “dark money” network managed by Arabella Advisors, a consulting firm in Washington, DC. In May, a follow-up article by the New York Times discovered that the Berger Action Fund had donated $135 million to Sixteen Thirty Fund between 2016 and March 2020. The Times has criticized the Wyss Foundation’s close ties and funding for the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which it called one of the “leading dark money spenders on the Left” responsible for distributing more than $63 million in super PAC donations that hurt Republicans and aided Democrats in the 2020 election, as well for “help[ing] create and fund dozens of groups, including some that worked to block Mr. Trump’s nominees and push progressive appointments by Mr. Biden.” Wyss dismissed critical reporting on his political activities by the New York Times as “bullshit” in late 2021 and reportedly accused the Times reporter of being a “well-known conservative editor.””