(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The non-profit Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission earlier this month, alleging an illegal $1.4 million scheme to finance Democratic politicians through a dark-money operation.
The complaint, filed on Dec. 9 and reported on Thursday by The Intercept, focused on the liberal-leaning clothing company Patagonia, and its ties to a mysterious corporation called “Save Our Home Planet Action, Inc.”
According to the complaint, SOHPA was incorporated in Delaware in August 2024. It appears to have conducted no real business before donating some $1.4 million to five political action committees—Senate Democratic campaign fund, the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, the House Democrats, FF PAC, The PAC for America’s Future—and three “hybrid” PACs. The donations were made between Aug. 16 and Sept. 4.
The complaint says that SOHPA’s address is the same as Patagonia’s. The complaint further noted that Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard said in 2018 that “we’re in business to save our home planet”—the same phrase used in the SOHPA acronym.
The Campaign Legal Center said those connections “strongly suggest” that Patagonia or its executives may be the true source of the contributions made in SOHPA’s name.
“Voters have a right to know who is spending money to influence their votes, elect their preferred candidates, and sway public policy,” says Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at CLC.
“This is just the latest example of how wealthy corporate special interests are using straw donor schemes to secretly spend enormous amounts of money on our elections. The FEC must investigate who really contributed over $1.4 million through this scheme, and hold any violators accountable for depriving the public of this vital information.”
Along with the CLC’s complaint, The Intercept further revealed Thursday that SOHPA has the same CEO, Greg Curtis, as the Holdfast Collective—a nonprofit organization that owns 98% of Patagonia.
Neither Patagonia nor the entity in question, Save our Home Planet Action, responded to The Intercept’s requests for comment. Curtis also reportedly did not respond to a request for comment.
The Campaign Legal Center told The Intercept that it is still waiting on a response to its complaint.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
