6 Billionaires You Didn't Know Spent Millions to Oust Obama

Sheldon Adelson, Estimated Net Worth $37.1B Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire behind the Las Vegas Sands casino empire, told Forbes in 2012 that he would be willing to do "whatever it takes" to dethrone President Obama. Including spending upwards of $100 million. Adelson's total investments against Obama are unknown. According to Politico, an estimated $20 million to $30 million of the giving went to groups that do not disclose their donors and had not been reported before. Another $10 million went to Restore Our Future, paying for anti-Obama ads in swing states. Adelson has maintained his rhetoric against Obama. Ken Griffin, Estimated Net Worth $5.2B Billionaire Ken Griffin, who runs the Chicago-based Citadel, was filled with hometown pride when Sen. Barack Obama decided to run for president. The hedge fund manager invited Obama to speak to his Citadel employees and raised thousands of dollars for his campaign. The hometown pride didn't last long. From 2010-12, Griffin and his wife gave $800,000 to American Crossroads, the super political action committee co-founded by Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's former adviser. He later gave $100,000 to the super PAC supporting 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Griffin didn't keep his disdain for Obama to himself. In a 2012 interview with the Chicago Tribune, he said that the country was drifting toward Soviet-style central planning, that the administration had “embraced class warfare” as a “political tool” and that wealthy people have “insufficient influence” in politics. Harold Simmons, Estimated Net Worth $10B The now-deceased Dallas oil billionaire wasn't shy about speaking out against the president. In a March 2012 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Harold Simmons stated, "Obama is the most dangerous American alive because he would eliminate free enterprise in this country." According to Forbes, Simmons was the second biggest billionaire donor to GOP candidates and causes in 2012. He gave more than $25 million to Republican super PACs during the 2012 presidential election. Charles and David Koch, Estimated Net Worth $41.3B Each Charles and David Koch may be the wealthiest and most vocal brothers against Obama's policies. But while their rhetoric is well-publicized, most notably at their biannual summits of like-minded rich conservatives where Charles once compared Obama to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, their donations to a political group leave less of a paper trail. According to Forbes, David held a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser for Romney at his Hamptons estate in 2012. His right-wing think tank Americans for Prosperity spent more than $30 million on ads supporting Republican candidates and condemning Obama’s record. However, as a nonprofit, the organization isn’t required to disclose its donors; the Koch brothers could have donated some of those millions, or not. Joe Ricketts, Estimated Net Worth $1.4B Chicago Cubs owner Joe Ricketts was embroiled in a scandal in 2012 when a 54-page document was leaked to The New York Times detailing his attempts to fund a $10 million anti-Obama campaign. The proposal included linking Obama with his former spiritual adviser the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., painting Obama as a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln” and hiring an “extremely literate conservative African-American” as a mouthpiece. When news broke, Ricketts denied any involvement. According to The Times, his efforts to put his money behind smearing Obama didn't end there. Ricketts helped to finance author Dinesh D'Souza's successful documentary 2016: Obama's America, which claims to highlight the president's "anticolonial" views. He also put money behind the marketing of the book that the film is based on The Roots of Obama's Rage (2010).

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