Paul Singer, the billionaire hedge fund manager who is under scrutiny for gifting conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito an undisclosed private flight, donated $10 million in June to the Senate Republicans’ top super PAC, according to a new Federal Election Commission filing. The donation was by far his largest federal political contribution ever.
The donation was given to Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), a super PAC with close ties to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that backs Republican candidates in U.S. Senate races. Singer had donated $2 million to SLF earlier this election cycle, across two donations given in June and December of last year.
According to ProPublica, Singer in 2008 flew Alito to Alaska on a private jet for a luxurious fishing trip. ProPublica says that the flight would have cost Alito at least $100,000 if he had chartered it himself. Alito did not report the gifted flight on his annual financial disclosures, an omission that some ethics experts argue was a violation of ethics laws. Under the federal Ethics in Government Act, Supreme Court justices are free to use a disclosure exception known as the “personal hospitality clause” for gifts “received as personal hospitality of an individual” worth an unlimited dollar amount, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
