A newly active super PAC, The Fellowship, has disclosed its first financial expenditure, revealing a $300,000 ad buy for Georgia Republican Clay Fuller through Nxum Group, a company co-founded by Bo Hines, who now serves as the chief executive of Tether's US arm. This development comes as The Fellowship, which claims to be rooted in transparency, has been linked to Tether, although the company has declined to confirm the connection. The PAC's first expense filing to the Federal Election Commission indicates that the advertising effort was made on behalf of Fuller, who recently won a special election.
However, the PAC's disclosures do not yet show a significant stockpile of contributions to support other candidates, despite an earlier announcement that it would be established with pledges of $100 million. An outside spokesperson for Tether stated that Tether International has no affiliation or oversight over The Fellowship PAC, but did not respond to further questions about Tether US.
The Fellowship PAC has begun listing endorsements for Republican politicians seeking House and Senate seats, as well as a candidate for governor in South Carolina, on its social media feed. The PAC's first recipient of financial support, Fuller, is an incoming Republican member of the House of Representatives, and the money spent by The Fellowship super PAC was an independent expenditure, meaning it had to be handled without strategizing with Fuller's campaign. The firm paid by The Fellowship PAC, Nxum, was co-founded by Hines, who previously worked as a leading adviser to President Donald Trump on crypto legislative advances. It is unclear whether financial ties remain between Hines and Nxum.
The PAC's treasurer, Mitchell Nobel, is an executive at Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm that manages assets for Tether's global operation. When The Fellowship was announced as a new PAC last year, it was presented as a contrast to previous political engagement efforts, with a focus on transparency and trust. However, the PAC's current activities have raised questions about its funding and potential conflicts of interest.