Robert Piaro

Of the five 427 groups mentioned in a recent subpoena alleging fraud, only one — Standing by Veterans PAC — remains active. Two others have shuttered: Americans for the Cure of Breast Cancer PAC and Traditional American Values PAC. And two more, the Association for Emergency Responders and Firefighters PAC and the U.S. Veterans Assistance Foundation PAC, are seeking the Federal Election Commission’s permission to close. All five shared the same treasurer: a Wisconsin activist named Robert Piaro, according to election commission records. In 2019, the watchdog group Center for Public Integrity reported that some groups run by Mr. Piaro had given nothing at all to political candidates, despite raising millions of dollars. In 2020, Reuters reported that Mr. Piaro’s groups had paid more than 80 percent of their money to fund-raising vendors. From at least in or about 2017 up to and including at least in or about December 2022, PIARO was the owner and treasurer of four PACs: Americans for the Cure of Breast Cancer, the Association for Emergency Responders & Firefighters, the US Veterans Assistance Foundation, and Standing By Veterans (the “PIARO PACs”). PIARO raised over $28 million from hundreds of thousands of donors nationwide through false statements and misrepresentations about how contributions to the PIARO PACs would be spent. For example, at PIARO’s direction, the PIARO PACs misrepresented to donors that donations would be used to advance specific legislation, educate lawmakers, and conduct and fund research, when PIARO did not and did not intend to follow through on those representations. In August 2023, PIARO, 73, of Fredonia, Wisconsin, was charged with one count of wire fraud in connection with telemarketing and one count of mail fraud in connection with telemarketing, which each carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.