For years, Democrats made foreign election interference their signature issue.
Then investigators started following the money behind state ballot initiatives.
And what they found is something Democrats don’t want you to read about.
The Dark Money Loophole Letting Foreign Billionaires Rewrite State Law
His name is Hansjörg Wyss, and there's a good chance you've never heard of him.
That's by design.
Wyss is a Swiss billionaire who built his fortune manufacturing medical devices – and then turned that fortune into a political weapon aimed directly at American elections.
According to Americans for Public Trust, Wyss has pumped $475 million into left-wing advocacy groups, with the bulk of it funneled through a dark money network called Arabella Advisors.
The money chain works like this: Wyss's Berger Action Fund sends hundreds of millions to two Arabella-linked groups – the Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund – which then push the money into ballot initiative campaigns, Super PACs, and get-out-the-vote operations across the country.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund alone has spent $130 million on ballot measure campaigns in 26 states since 2014, according to Americans for Public Trust.
In Michigan, redistricting campaigns bankrolled by that money remade the state's political map.
Missouri got $4.6 million pushed into the campaign that wrote abortion into the state constitution.
Ohio absorbed $20.7 million. Florida, $17 million.
All of it completely legal – because of a loophole that lets foreign nationals fund ballot initiatives even though they can't donate directly to candidates.
Democrats Voted to Protect Foreign Money in Elections — Here's the Proof
Federal law has always banned foreign nationals from donating to candidates and PACs.
But ballot initiatives? Most states left the door wide open – and Wyss walked right through it.
The FEC tried to act – conservatives filed complaints, the commission deadlocked 3-3 along party lines, and the case died.
The FEC's own general counsel found that Wyss-linked groups failed to provide evidence of grant agreements. The same report concluded the Sixteen Thirty Fund spent the lion's share of its budget on electoral politics.
Democrats had the evidence in their hands and voted to walk away.
Wyss's sister spelled out his mission in a biography: his goal is to "[re]interpret the American Constitution in the light of progressive politics."
A Swiss billionaire who once told a newspaper he "never felt the need to become an American" has been rewriting American law for over a decade – while the party that screams loudest about foreign interference held the door open for him.
States Are Shutting Down the Foreign Money Scheme One by One
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers stopped waiting for Washington.
In November 2025, he sued Wyss directly – naming him and six Wyss-backed organizations – alleging they illegally funneled more than $10 million into six Nebraska ballot campaigns covering abortion, minimum wage, paid sick leave, and school choice repeal.
"Nebraskans are under an unprecedented assault of foreign money, flowing unlawfully into our state's elections," Hilgers said.
His office traced the money through a chain of nonprofits: Wyss Foundation to Berger Action Fund, to Sixteen Thirty Fund, to local Nebraska groups, directly into ballot campaigns.
"Upwards of a half a billion dollars has flowed into the United States to influence all sorts of elections," Hilgers told Just the News.
Nine states passed comprehensive bans on foreign ballot initiative funding in 2024 and 2025 – Ohio first, then Wyoming, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, and Tennessee.
In 2026, up to two dozen more states could follow, with bills already moving in Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, Iowa, Florida, Georgia, and Nebraska.
Sens. Bill Hagerty and John Kennedy introduced federal legislation to close the loophole nationwide. "Only Americans should get to participate in American elections – duh," Kennedy said.
Leftist election attorney Marc Elias tried to block the state bans in court. He lost in Kansas. He lost in Ohio. He's losing everywhere he tries.
Nebraska's AG is in court, Hagerty and Kennedy are pushing federal legislation, and twenty-five states have introduced bills to seal the loophole for good.
Democrats who spent years on television lecturing America about foreign interference have had nothing to say about any of it.
Sources:
- Fred Lucas, "More States Moving to Close Election Funding Loophole Few Voters Knew Existed," The Daily Signal, February 22, 2026.
- "Here Are The States That Closed The Loophole On Foreign Cash In Elections," The Daily Wire, September 3, 2025.
- "Nebraska Attorney General Hilgers Targets Foreign Funding in State Ballot Initiatives," Just The News, November 2025.
- "Kennedy Backs Hagerty Bill to Stop Foreign Billionaires from Meddling in U.S. Elections," Office of Sen. John Kennedy, 2025.
- "Report: Left-Wing Swiss Billionaire Exploiting the Foreign Influence Loophole," Americans for Public Trust, February 2025.
- "GOP Bill Cracks Down on 'Loophole' Allowing Foreign Donors to Pump Dark Money into U.S. Elections," Fox News, April 2024.
- "Sixteen Thirty Fund Spending on State Ballot Issue Campaigns," Americans for Public Trust, 2025.
