Jeff Yass

Susquehanna International Group holds a 15% stake in ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, worth approximately $21–34 billion depending on valuation date. Jeff Yass personally holds an estimated 7% stake. In early 2024, the US House passed bipartisan legislation — 352 to 65 — requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban. The bill threatened tens of billions in Yass holdings. In the run-up to and following the vote, Yass became the single largest individual donor to outside spending groups in the 2024 cycle — approximately $100 million to Republican groups. Trump had supported the TikTok ban before the donations accelerated. In March 2024, Trump met with Yass. In March 2024, Trump reversed to opposing the ban. As of 2025, the ban remains unenforced. Yass continued donating: $16 million to MAGA Inc. in the first half of 2025 — the largest single donation to that fund in that period. All of this is legal. This is what it looks like.

• —SIG holds ~15% of ByteDance; Yass personally holds ~7%. Total stake: $21–34 billion depending on valuation period.
• —US House vote: 352–65 in favor of requiring divestiture or ban. Bipartisan passage in March 2024.
• —2024 election cycle: Yass donated approximately $100 million to Republican outside groups — the single largest individual contribution to outside spending that cycle.
• —Trump public position before donations: supported the TikTok ban.
• —March 2024: Trump met with Yass.
• —March 2024: Trump reversed to opposing the ban.
• —As of late 2025: the TikTok ban remains unenforced.
• —2025 (first half): Yass donated $16 million to MAGA Inc. — the largest single donation to that fund in that period.
• —Yass is a registered Libertarian who spent $10M opposing Trump in 2023 (Club for Growth). He reversed to pro-Trump after the ByteDance divestiture passed the House in March 2024.

Pennsylvania's school tax credit programs (EITC and OSTC) allow businesses to donate to private school scholarship funds and receive 90% back as state tax credits, plus additional state and federal income tax deductions. The net result: a 27% profit on the original donation. Yass co-founded Students First PAC (school choice), spent $41.7 million on it between 2010 and 2022, and used the PAC to fund lawmakers who expanded the program's cap from $210 million (2018) to $630 million (2025). Simultaneously, entities associated with Yass collected more than $30 million in credits from the very program he was funding politicians to expand. Philadelphia Trading Inc. (Yass-associated) alone collected $5.1 million in credits between 2019 and 2021. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that the state's public school funding was unconstitutional. The legislature's response was to expand the private school tax credits that divert money from the underfunded public system. Yass funded the lawmakers. Yass's entities harvested the credits. This is not alleged — it is the documented pattern.

• —Students First PAC: co-founded by Yass. $41.7 million in Yass donations, 2010–2022.
• —Philadelphia Trading Inc. (Yass-associated): $5.1 million in EITC/OSTC tax credits, 2019–2021.
• —Commonwealth Kids LLC and Joshua Kids LLC (Commonwealth Foundation orbit, Yass-linked): $4.4 million in credits, 2019–2021.
• —Total Yass-associated entities: $30 million+ in tax credits collected, 2017–2023.
• —Tax credit program cap expansion: $210M (2018) → $630M (2025). Yass-funded lawmakers voted for the expansion.
• —The 27% profit structure: donate $200K, receive $180K state tax credit + ~$74K income tax savings = net gain on the original donation.
• —Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 2023: state public school funding is unconstitutional.
• —Yass donated $6 million to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, another voucher proponent (January 2024).
• —All of this is legal. The system was designed to accommodate exactly this pattern.

Jeff Yass is the near-exclusive funder of a layered PAC structure in Pennsylvania that reaches state judicial races, legislative races, and ballot measures without his name appearing as the direct donor of record. The chain runs: Yass donates to Students First PAC → Students First donates to Commonwealth Children's Choice Fund → Commonwealth Children's Choice Fund donates to Commonwealth Leaders Fund → Commonwealth Leaders Fund donates to candidates and outside spending groups. Commonwealth Leaders Fund is the public donor of record on expenditures that have shaped Pennsylvania's judiciary and legislature. Tracing the money back to Yass requires multiple hops through shell entities. In 2022, $18 million flowed through this architecture during the Pennsylvania primary cycle — with Yass as the near-sole source. The same architecture also funded anti-COVID-lockdown protests in Pennsylvania during the pandemic, which was a documented astroturfing operation. By 2024, Yass's total political spend had reached approximately $100 million for the cycle, funneled through Club for Growth ($32M+), Students First, and direct PAC structures.

• —Documented chain: Yass → Students First → Commonwealth Children's Choice Fund → Commonwealth Leaders Fund → candidates and causes.
• —Commonwealth Leaders Fund is the public donor of record in Pennsylvania judicial and legislative spending.
• —2022 Pennsylvania primary: ~$18 million flowed through the chain. Yass was the near-exclusive source.
• —2024 cycle: $100M+ to Republican groups. Club for Growth: $32M+ total (2018 through 2024). 2020: $20.7M to Club for Growth alone.
• —Anti-COVID-lockdown astroturf: Commonwealth-affiliated PACs funded in-person protests during the Pennsylvania pandemic shutdown — traced back to Yass-sourced money.
• —The chain adds at minimum three degrees of separation between Yass's name and the public record of spending. Legal under current campaign finance law.
• —Bloomberg, Jul 2023: Yass gave $10M to Club for Growth anti-Trump effort; reversed to pro-Trump by March 2024 when TikTok legislation passed.
• —OpenSecrets documents the donor chain through FEC and state disclosure filings.

Yass has directed more than $16 million to pro-Israel and anti-Muslim organizations, including $7.9 million to Jerusalem Online University between 2014 and 2019. In 2015, QXZ Inc. — a nonprofit linked to Yass — donated $1.5 million to Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, AIPAC's advocacy arm, which ran the campaign to kill the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the Iran nuclear deal). Yass is also a documented funder of the Kohelet Policy Forum, the Israeli think tank that designed the judicial overhaul legislation that triggered 36 consecutive weeks of mass protest in Israel in 2023 — the largest protest movement in Israeli history. The overhaul aimed to strip the Israeli Supreme Court of its power to strike down government actions, concentrating authority in the governing coalition. Yass holds no public office. He faces no public accountability for his foreign policy activities. His constituency is himself.

• —$16 million+ to anti-Muslim and pro-Israel organizations, reported April 2024 (The Guardian).
• —$7.9 million to Jerusalem Online University, 2014–2019.
• —QXZ Inc. (Yass-linked nonprofit): $1.5 million to Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran (AIPAC's advocacy arm) in 2015 — opposing the JCPOA.
• —Kohelet Policy Forum: Yass is a documented funder. Kohelet designed the 2023 Israeli judicial overhaul legislation.
• —The judicial overhaul triggered 36 consecutive weeks of mass protest in Israel — the largest protest movement in Israeli history.
• —The overhaul's goal: remove the Israeli Supreme Court's power to strike down government actions.
• —Yass has never held elected office. He holds no formal role in US or Israeli government. He faces no electoral accountability for these positions.
• —Haaretz, March 2024: "Jeff Yass, Billionaire Invested in TikTok and Israel's Judicial Coup, Is Top Spender in 2024 Elections."