Ever since Sidney Powell spearheaded one of then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to nullify the 2020 election, she has found herself on the wrong side of a flurry of potentially ruinous lawsuits. But voting machine-related woes are only part of the notorious MAGA lawyer’s deepening troubles.
For months, a federal investigation running out of Washington, D.C., has been demanding documents and asking potential witnesses questions about Powell, according to three people familiar with the matter. Similarly, a separate investigation into Powell’s anti-democratic activities took place in the Sunshine State earlier this year—and has already produced results, and punished Powell and her far-right group.
The federal probe, which has not been previously reported, is examining the finances of Defending the Republic, an organization founded by Powell to fund her “Kraken” lawsuits to overturn the 2020 election, the sources said. According to two of the people familiar with the matter, a grand jury was empaneled, and subpoenas and documents requests have gone out to multiple individuals as recently as September.
Defending the Republic’s finances have already prompted an investigation and a settlement with Florida’s charity regulator. The group paid a $10,000 fine in September as part of a settlement agreement related to its solicitation of contributions and failure to register as a charitable organization in the state.
In secretly recorded conversations released by erstwhile Powell ally Lin Wood over the past few days, former Overstock.com and Defending the Republic CEO Patrick Byrne accused Powell of pocketing funds from the group in order to pay for her defense against a billion-dollar defamation suit filed against her by Dominion Voting Systems.
Neither Powell nor representatives of Defending the Republic responded to requests for comment on this story. Neither Powell nor Defending the Republic has been charged with a crime.
Powell created Defending the Republic with great fanfare in December 2020 and listed a who’s who of pro-Trump election conspiracy world on its incorporation paperwork. The group’s board originally included former Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn, his brother Joe, and QAnon enthusiast Lin Wood, a fellow Trump-connected lawyer who recently started feuding with Powell. Attorneys for Defending the Republic claim that Wood was mistakenly listed as a board member and subsequently removed from registration filings.
