“I spent 20 years in intelligence learning how to find what people hide. Former CIA and NSA. Corporate intelligence CEO. I read people, decode political strategy, and follow the money where no one else will.” — Leah
Substack (Read ALL of Leah’s reports here)
TPUSA – The $15.2 Million Pipeline That Feeds Itself
Inside the network of shell companies, insider deals, and family connections of TPUSA
FEB 25, 2026
In October 2023, the Associated Press published an investigation into Turning Point USA that landed like a grenade in conservative media circles and then, strangely disappeared. The headline was about Charlie Kirk becoming a millionaire, but the real story was buried in the numbers, so let’s follow the money.
The AP found that top Turning Point officials had steered at least $15.2 million to companies owned by themselves, their friends, and their associates. Not to outside vendors with competitive bids or the educational mission the charity was built around. $15.2M to people already collecting salaries from the organization.
So, I fired up my laptop and went into my new favorite place, TPUSA’s 990 Forms. I pulled every 990 Form available on ProPublica, going all the way back to fiscal year 2013 when the organization first filed. The pattern was so consistent, that by the third shell company the playbook was in my face.
This piece puts the full picture together, because the individual transactions only tell half the story. The other half is in what happens when you lay them all side by side.
The Fundraiser Who Bills the Charity She Fundraises For
We have already covered Stacy Sheridan and her three LLC’s that brought in more than 2.7M since 2018 from TPUSA.
ProPublica flagged this arrangement in December 2023. Philip Hackney, a former IRS official, told them the pattern was concerning. His exact words: “As the number of self-interested transactions go up, the potential goes up for the possibility that the organization is being operated for the private interests of those who control the organization.”
That language matters, because it mirrors the legal standard the IRS uses when deciding whether to revoke a nonprofit’s tax-exempt status.
When reporters asked Turning Point and Sheridan about the arrangement, neither provided a comment.
A Million Dollars for Research Nobody Has Seen
In fiscal year 2020, Turning Point USA paid $999,821 to a company called Clocktower LLC in Nevada.
The description on the tax filing reads: “research project on educational outputs.”
Let’s start with the number, $999,821. One hundred and seventy-nine dollars short of a million. If you have worked in finance, government, or compliance, you know what that number looks like. It looks like someone was told the threshold was a million dollars and deliberately came in just under it, literally.
The company was registered in Nevada. It was dissolved in 2022. The only person listed on its business filings is Nicholas R. Miller, who serves as the president of a firm that advises clients on tax avoidance strategies.
When the AP reached out to Miller, he did not respond.
There is no public record of the research, no report, no publication, no white paper, no conference presentation, and no mention of it on any Turning Point website or promotional material. Nearly a million dollars of donor money went to a Nevada shell company for a research project, and no one has ever seen the results. Seems about right thus far.
Some online investigators have drawn connections between Clocktower LLC and Clock Tower X LLC, a separate entity linked to Brad Parscale that was registered as a foreign agent under FARA for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I have not been able to independently verify a direct link between the two companies, but the naming similarity and the Nevada registration have drawn scrutiny.
When Turning Point’s spokesperson Andrew Kolvet was asked about the payment, his response was that any suggestion insiders benefited from it was “defamatory.”
That is not a denial that the payment was made. It is not an explanation of what the research produced. It is a legal threat.
Look TPUSA, it’s not our fault you are bad at this game.
The Chief Creative Officer and the Company He Did Not Own
Benny Johnson served as Turning Point USA’s chief creative officer and his compensation from the organization totaled at least $486,000.
During the same period, a company called Arsenal Media Group received $613,000 from Turning Point between 2020 and 2021 for “videos and ad placement.” Arsenal described itself as having a “viral influencer network.”
Johnson’s personal website stated that he co-founded Arsenal Media Group.
After the AP contacted Johnson’s team about this, a spokesman responded that Johnson was “never an owner or executive of Arsenal Media” and that “any work Benny did with Arsenal was as an independent contractor”, but his own website had already said otherwise.
Combined, Johnson’s salary and the payments to his company totaled over $1.1 million.
$333,000 in Books
In 2020, Turning Point paid $333,000 to Pursuit Ventures LLC, a company belonging to Donald Trump Jr. The stated purpose was to purchase copies of a book Trump Jr. had written and the books were then offered as gifts during a fundraising drive.
Can we pause for one second? Because a tax-exempt educational charity seemingly spent a third of a million dollars buying books from the son of the sitting President of the United States, then gave those books away to donors as a fundraising incentive. The money left the charity and went into Trump Jr.’s LLC. Whew, stay with me.
This is legal. Nonprofits buy promotional materials all the time. But the scale matters, especially considering $333,000 is more than most Americans make in five years. And it went to an LLC controlled by a political figure whose support was foundational to the organization’s growth.
In the same period, Trump’s former bodyguard John McEntee collected $107,500 for consulting work. McEntee had previously served as head of the Presidential Personnel Office. His consulting firm billed Turning Point entities between 2021 and 2022.
$9 Million to a Printing Company That Is Not Really a Printing Company
We broke this down in other articles, but it’s part of the story so skip this section is you know about the $9.9M and want to keep grinding through this web.
The largest single vendor on Turning Point’s recent filings is Resource One, a Tulsa-based company that has collected over $9.9 million across three fiscal years.
In fiscal year 2023, Resource One was the #1 independent contractor at $6 million. In FY2023, it was #2 at $2.9 million. In FY2022, it received over $1 million. The service listed on every filing is the same: printing and publications.
On the same FY2023 filing, Part IX breaks down functional expenses by category. The total amount Turning Point reported spending on printing across the entire organization was $1.3 million, but they paid Resource One alone $6 million for printing.
That is a $4.7 million discrepancy. The charity says it spent $1.3 million on printing. So it paid one company $6 million for printing, but if both numbers cannot be accurate.
Resource One is not an independent print shop. It is a subsidiary of a $700 million political fundraising conglomerate and a second subsidiary of that same parent company was simultaneously collecting over $1 million from Turning Point.
Again, I’m not saying the payments were illegal. But I am saying that when a charity reports $1.3 million in total printing expenses on one page and $6 million to a single printing vendor on another page of the same tax return, someone should be asking questions.
The Mother-in-Law, the Indicted COO, and the Vendor Board (read that one 5 times fast)
There is a company called Superfeed Technologies that builds get-out-the-vote apps for Republican campaigns. Turning Point’s PAC paid Superfeed $120,000 in 2023.
Guess who is the chairman of Superfeed’s board? No other than Tyler Bowyer, who also serves as Turning Point USA’s Chief Operating Officer. Bowyer was indicted on nine felony counts in Arizona as a fake elector in the 2020 presidential election, go to Part 4 of my Tiktok series for my take on this mess.
Another interesting connection in our web is who is listed as a director (since December 2022) on Superfeed Technologies board. No other than Lori Frantzve, Erika Kirk’s mother.
So, the charity’s own COO chairs the board of a company the charity pays. And the founder’s mother-in-law sits on that same board with a daughter who is now CEO of the $85-million-a-year organization.
When asked about the Superfeed arrangement, Kolvet told reporters that Turning Point’s leaders and Kirk’s mother-in-law “have not earned a dime” from the company. I honestly love their commitment.
The question is not only whether individuals are being directly compensated. The question is whether the pattern of relationships between the charity, its officers, and its vendors creates a web of financial entanglement that undermines the independence a 501(c)(3) is supposed to maintain.
The charity also paid for Charlie and Erika Kirk’s wedding reception. It was held at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, a luxury resort. Turning Point described the event as a “ninth anniversary celebration and fundraiser” on the invitation, which was obtained by the AP. Anyone donating to this organization, what is your thought process?
The Pattern
In case TPUSA has made it this far in my writeup, everything in this article comes from publicly available tax filings, state corporate records, campaign finance disclosures, and reporting by the Associated Press and ProPublica. None of it is hidden. All of it is sitting in plain sight on the IRS website and in state databases.
That is part of what makes it so striking.
The lead fundraiser runs three shell companies billing the charity $2.7 million while collecting a six-figure salary. A million-dollar research project goes to a Nevada LLC managed by a tax avoidance specialist and produces nothing that anyone can find. The chief creative officer’s own company collects $613,000 while he is already on the payroll. A printing vendor collects $6 million despite the charity reporting only $1.3 million in total printing costs. The COO chairs the board of a vendor alongside the CEO’s mother. And the charity paid for the founder’s wedding.
Whew. I don’t smoke but I feel like I need a cigarette.
Each of these transactions, taken alone, might have an explanation, and I’m sure they do. Nonprofits hire consultants, organizations buy books for fundraising drives, events serve multiple purposes. But the follow the money does not evaluate self-dealing transactions in isolation, it looks at the totality. And the totality here is $15.2 million flowing to companies controlled by insiders, across multiple fiscal years, through entities registered in privacy-friendly states, with vague service descriptions and no public accountability.
Turning Point USA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt educational charity with donations to it being tax-deductible. It brought in $84.9 million in contributions in fiscal year 2023 alone. Its stated mission is to educate young Americans about the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government. Anyone beginning to see the problem?
Whether $15.2 million flowing to insider-controlled companies is consistent with that mission is a question for the IRS, the state attorneys general who regulate charities, and the donors whose money is involved. I’m just asking questions.
When the AP asked Turning Point about their findings, the response was that any insinuation that insiders benefited was “defamatory.” Honestly, at this point it’s embarrassing how dumb they are.
The filings are public. The corporate records are public. The numbers are on the page where we can see them.
I am not insinuating anything,I am reading the documents and reporting findings.
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Sources and Documents Referenced (CYA documentation)
Tax Filings (Form 990, EIN 80-0835023):
All filings available at ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/800835023
FY2023 — Top 5 contractors: Resource One ($6M), Mosaic Event Productions ($4M), Active Engagement ($3M), American Solutions for Business ($2M), Conrad Direct ($1M). Schedule L: GGLF 2023 LLC, $350,000 loan for split-dollar life insurance, entity owned by President/CEO.
FY2022 — Top 5 contractors: Mosaic Event Productions ($3.9M), Resource One ($2.9M), Active Engagement ($2.7M), American Solutions for Business ($1.9M), Fox News Channel ($1.4M).
FY2021 — Top 5 contractors: Mosaic Event Productions ($2.2M), American Solutions for Business ($1.2M), American Philanthropic ($884K), Cloverstone Ventures LLC ($827K), Active Engagement ($736K).
FY2020 — Top 5 contractors: Mentzer Media Services ($1.5M), Mosaic Event Productions ($714K), Lionrock Ventures ($386K), MWPolitical ($385K), Strategic Partners and Media ($350K). Schedule G: Lionrock Ventures additional $627K in fundraising fees.
Investigative Reporting:
Associated Press, “How Trump’s MAGA movement helped a 29-year-old activist become a millionaire,” Brian Slodysko, October 2023. Published in The Hill, Detroit News, Las Vegas Sun, and others.
ProPublica, “At This Trump-Favored Charity, Financial Reporting Is Questionable and Insiders Are Cashing In,” December 2023.
State Corporate Records:
Arizona Corporation Commission (ecorp.azcc.gov): Superfeed Technologies board filing, December 2022. Directors: Tyler Bowyer (Chairman), Lori Frantzve (Director).
Nevada Secretary of State (nvsos.gov): Clocktower LLC filing. Manager: Nicholas R. Miller. Status: Dissolved 2022.
Wyoming Secretary of State (wyobiz.wyo.gov): GGLF 2023 LLC. Filed May 15, 2023. Agent resigned October 2024. Tax dissolution September 7, 2025. Reinstated December 3, 2025.
Campaign Finance:
Turning Point PAC payment to Superfeed Technologies: $120,000. Source: FEC filings.
Legal Standard Referenced:
IRS criteria for revocation of 501(c)(3) status based on private benefit/private inurement. Philip Hackney, former IRS official, quoted in ProPublica regarding pattern of self-interested transactions.
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The Leah Files is an independent investigative newsletter. If you found this piece valuable, share it. If you have documents or tips related to Turning Point USA’s finances, reach out. The filings are public. The questions should be too.
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CKs assassination is now crystal clear.