They embarked on a project to take control of a 501(c)4 nonprofit, Secure Democracy, and lobby Republican lawmakers-and run ads against them-on voting rights issues from behind the veil of an ostensibly nonpartisan group.
In October 2021, the New Venture Fund dismissed a senior executive who blew the whistle internally, arguing that the group was illegally using charitable resources to direct Secure Democracy's 501(c)4 political activities.
Interviews with five former New Venture Fund employees involved in the Secure Democracy arrangement raise questions about Arabella's commitment to the law.
The group of New Venture Fund employees pulling the strings at Secure Democracy came from a team within the New Venture Fund that worked on one of the organization's legitimate projects, the Voting Rights Lab.
Former Secure Democracy communications director Jay Riestenberg told the head of another left-wing organization in July of 2021 that New Venture Fund's control of the group "Is not publicly advertised for strategic reasons."
"I applied for a position that was listed as Voting Rights Lab. It was only later in the interview process I was told you're going to be on the Secure Democracy side," a former staffer said.
New Venture Fund cut ties with the Voting Rights Lab project in June 2022 because of the compliance issues surrounding its control of Secure Democracy, two former staffers said.
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