New:

We took a look at Trump Media’s first major business deal and found a Trump donor and energy magnate on the other side of it.

Then we started to dig more and found a series of bizarre figures and mysterious companies …

propublica.org/article/trump-… Trump Media said July 3 it’s acquiring streaming TV tech for Truth Social, in a deal worth around $170 million at the current stock price.

One of the sellers was an obscure LLC called JedTec. Streaming technology experts we spoke to had never heard of the company.

NEW:

Justice Clarence Thomas’ private complaints about money once sparked fears he would resign from the court.

propublica.org/article/claren… We found that Thomas was pushing for ways to make more money in a period, two decades ago, when he was developing his relationships with a set of wealthy benefactors.

There are still a lot we don’t know. But some of what we found:

Our story:

Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court

propublica.org/article/samuel… From me + @js_kaplan + @Amierjeski

NEW:

Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.

The price tag could have exceeded $150,000.

propublica.org/article/claren…

w/ @js_kaplan @Amierjeski Our story reveals Harlan Crow paid boarding school tuition for Mark Martin, a relative who Justice Thomas took in and raised as a son from age 6.

Here’s a bank statement we’re publishing showing a wire of Crow Holdings LLC paying $6,200 for a month’s tuition:

NEW: Billionaire Harlan Crow bought property from Clarence Thomas in undisclosed real estate deal.

Crow netted two vacant lots and the house where Thomas’ elderly mother was living. It’s unclear if he paid fair market value.

propublica.org/article/claren…

w/ @js_kaplan @Amierjeski Here is Thomas' signature on the deed for his deal with Crow + the vacant lots Crow bought from Thomas.

We recently reported on how the Uihlein family – currently the single largest donors to the GOP – have funded far-right causes for generations, going back to at least the “America First” of the 1940s.

But, it turns out, the story doesn’t end there.

propublica.org/article/uline-… As we noted, Dick Uihlein’s dad was a big donor in the ‘60s to the John Birch Society, the group known for its conspiratorial anti-communism and militant opposition to civil rights

NEW from us:

The fortune behind the single biggest right-wing donor this election comes from a strange source: the cardboard boxes and paper bags strewn about your home.

propublica.org/article/uline-… We found Dick and Liz Uihlein of Illinois — owners of the @uline shipping supplies empire — have emerged as big winners in the era of online shopping & the pandemic. Demand for their products has soared, with the couple making over $700M in a single recent year.

NEW: Our latest story is about one of the most powerful people you’ve probably never heard of.

He’s emerged as a Koch-style funder on the right, pouring $100M+ into politics, and backing a host of 2020 election deniers.

And he’s mysteriously good at avoiding taxes. As the @propublica crew looked through tax data of America’s ultrarich, we noticed Jeff Yass, a finance deca-billionaire and major TikTok investor.

Many on Wall Street are good at avoiding taxes. But Yass is in a league of his own.

propublica.org/article/jeff-y…

The FTC has filed in federal court for a restraining order against @Intuit over "the deceptive claim that consumers can file their taxes for free using TurboTax when in truth" they often cannot.

Posted to PACER around 90 minutes ago: documentcloud.org/documents/2156… From the lengthy complaint:

Yesterday former Sen. Max Baucus (@BigSkyMax) wrote a USA Today op-ed arguing against a proposal to end exploitation of IRAs by billionaires.

Why is the retired Democratic senator weighing in on a proposal that would affect a tiny number of the rich? We tried to find out. Back in June, we wrote a story that showed how billionaires had used what was intended as a middle-class retirement vehicle to build giant tax-free fortunes. Peter Thiel’s stood out: $5 billion as of 2019.

propublica.org/article/lord-o…

NEW: Confidential tax records show how Donald Trump’s tax cut for “small business” showered cash on some of the country’s richest families

The latest from The Secret IRS Files, by me and @RobertFaturechi:

propublica.org/article/secret… (thread) 2/ The pass-through deduction was a key part of Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul, pitched as helping “Main Street.”

Among the biggest winners: media mogul Michael Bloomberg, the family that owns engineering giant Bechtel, and the heirs of Houston pipeline billionaire Dan Duncan.

NEW:

Lord of the Roths: How Tech Mogul Peter Thiel Turned a Retirement Account for the Middle Class Into a $5 Billion Dollar Tax-Free Piggy Bank

propublica.org/article/lord-o… (thread) 2/ The latest from The Secret IRS Files project: @SheInvestigates , @bandler_james and I investigated how the mundane Roth IRA became a giant tax shelter for the ultrawealthy, including Peter Thiel, Warren Buffett, Robert Mercer, and others.