American Encore (formerly Center to Protect Patient Rights)
- Location: Phoenix, AZ
- Tax-Exempt Status: 501(c)(4)
- EIN: 26-4683543
- Website: http://www.americanencore.org/
Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR) is a secretive nonprofit tied to the Koch brothers that disbursed more than $182 million between 2009 and 2012. After its founding in 2009, CPPR maintained an unusually low profile – no website, no press efforts, and no public address besides a post office box in Arizona – allowing it to remain virtually invisible until campaign watchdogs stumbled across it in May 2012.
CPPR is run by Sean Noble, a veteran political operative who found his way into the Koch brothers’ inner circle after serving as chief of staff to Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ). In 2010, Noble reportedly was a regular at Karl Rove’s so-called “Weaver Terrace” meetings, where conservative groups strategized and coordinated their ad spending in the midterm elections. The vast majority of CPPR’s known funding comes from Freedom Partners, a business association at the center of the Koch brothers’ network; however, as a 501(c)(4), CPPR does not have to disclose its donors.
The top recipients of CPPR cash are: American Future Fund ($63.2 million), Americans for Responsible Leadership ($25.6 million), 60 Plus Association ($16.7 million), Americans for Prosperity ($15.8 million), and Americans for Limited Government ($71.6 million). CPPR has also contributed to a number of other prominent conservative groups such as Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, the anti-choice Susan B. Anthony List, and the anti-spending Club for Growth.
Notable Facts:
- Since 2011, Koch-linked Freedom Partners seems to have provided CPPR with a majority of its funding. Freedom Partners gives secretly by donating to limited-liability companies with changing names that don’t have to disclose their affiliations. To donate to CPPR, Freedom Partners gave to a “disregarded entity” owned by CPPR called Corner Table LLC (Corner Table’s name has already been changed to Cactus Wren LLC).
- CPPR was investigated in 2013 by California state authorities for participating in “campaign money laundering.” CPPR and another organization, Americans for Responsible Leadership, were fined a total of $1 million, “one of the largest penalties ever assessed on a political group for failing to disclose donations.” The scandal reportedly has already caused the Kochs to begin distancing themselves somewhat from the organization.
- CPPR’s top recipient, American Future Fund, received more than 92 percent of its 2012 revenues from just CPPR and Freedom Partners.