Schweizer: Is George Soros a Racketeer?

Editor’s Note: This article has been changed to, among other things, incorporate comment from lawyers representing the Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund, and speaking on behalf of Arabella Advisors, and to clarify that Arabella Advisors does not itself provide funding.

Is George Soros a racketeer?

That’s the subject of the latest episode of the The Drill Down podcast, with Peter Schweizer and Eric Eggers of the Government Accountability Institute.

Soros, the billionaire currency speculator who in 1992 netted $1 billion by shorting the British pound and bringing the Bank of England to its knees, controls a large network of left-wing activist organizations from under the umbrella of his Open Society Foundations.

“The nonprofit Tides Foundation has given over $22 million to different causes in this area,” Schweizer says. “Tides, of course, has received money from Soros and has worked at some level with his organizations. They gave $650,000 to the Jewish Voice for Peace, $710,000 to the Adelaide Justice Project, $86,000 to If Not Now, $38,000 to the Center for Constitutional Rights, $600,000 to the Mass Liberation Project, $132,000 to Westpac Foundations, and that includes Students for Justice in Palestine.”

“Now, some of these groups are not engaged in violent protests, but some are,” he says. He goes on to mention groups that violently protested construction of a police training facility in Georgia, and another group, called The Indivisible Project, that was reportedly involved in funding the violent attacks on Tesla dealerships as a protest against Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts.

Days ago, President Donald Trump threatened Soros and his son, Alex, with prosecution under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a 1970 law providing for extended criminal penalties against participants in ongoing criminal organizations. The law was meant to be a weapon for prosecutors against the Mafia, but it has been used in other contexts as well.

Trump was himself prosecuted (unsuccessfully) by Fulton County DA Fani Willis of Georgia, based on a RICO charge stemming from the 2020 election tally in Georgia.

Peter Schweizer highlights recent research by the Government Accountability Institute that explains the deep connections between Soros, fellow billionaire Bill Gates, and a dark-money funding network advised and given operational and administrative support by Arabella Advisors.

Funds that Arabella Advisors advises (e,g,the New Venture Fund and the Sixteen Thirty Fund) have given money to various left-wing groups that have been tied to the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles and the “No Kings” protests this summer in several cities.

“It’s not illegal for Soros, or Elon Musk, to make contributions to political causes,” Schweizer explains. As far as funding groups that incite violence, however, “you don’t have to prove that the head of the [funding] entity knew that they were going to engage in criminal activity. All you have to show is they should have known… So, if I as a funder said, ‘you know what, I’m going to fund this group,’ and I know they have a history of violent protests, and I fund them anyway, even if I never directed or was involved in making the decision to engage in violent protest, I could still be charged under RICO.”

Schweizer and Eggers explain that Trump’s threat against Soros is really a rhetorical warning shot aimed at dark-money funds such as Tides and those in the Arabella network. Soros gives money to Arabella-managed funds. Soros, Tides and funds advised by Arabella Advisors have provided at least $5 million to two left-wing nonprofits involved with protests that turned violent against immigration law enforcement in Los Angeles, according to recent financial disclosures available. One of those groups, Community Change Action, supported the L.A. protests and provided protest tips in Spanish. Its “brainchild,” the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, has trained children how to aggressively protest.

According to lawyers representing two of the funds in the Arabella network (the Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund), Arabella and the funds it supports have strict policies against violence of any kind, and any grant agreements of the Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund include the same prohibitions on the use of funds for violence.

Another group receiving funds from the Arabella network, the “Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles,” has been accused by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) of fomenting “unlawful” unrest during those riots. That group also received more than $50 million in state and federal grants during the Biden administration, according to an investigation by the Washington Examiner.

Lawyers for the Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund say that no funds went to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles in 2025, and that “only $425 went there in 2024.” Furthermore, they assert that any money that went to Community Changer Action or Indivisible were for programs that had no role in either the Los Angeles or the Tesla riots.

Some large philanthropists have already noticed. Bill Gates has terminated his relationship with the Arabella network. The Gates foundation has given $450 million to entities in the Arabella network since 2008.

For more from Peter Schweizer, subscribe to The DrillDown podcast.