According to the most recent tax returns, Del Bigtree, a prominent figure in the anti-vaccine movement, generated a record windfall for the nonprofit organization he formed last year.
Revenue for 2023 was $23 million, a 74% increase over 2022, according to the Informed Consent Action Network, or ICAN. The group’s expenditures on legal challenges and anti-vaccine advocacy were close to $17 million, a roughly 25% rise over the previous year.
The tax records, which NBC News acquired from ICAN, demonstrate the growing popularity and financial success of the anti-vaccine movement in the continuous battle over public health and vaccine regulations. The pandemicsupercharged groups like ICAN, which reported about $3.5 million in revenue in 2019, expanding the audience interested in anti-vaccine content and growing the coffers of those who produce it. Misinformation has continued to proliferate despite the fact that numerous studies have shown that vaccines are safe, save lives, and are not associated with autism.
Up until this year, when it fell more than 30% to $16 million, revenue for Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group started by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had also been increasing. Kennedy’s failing presidential campaign coincided with this defeat, and he took time off from his roles as chairman and lead litigation counsel.
However, Bigtree’s prominence has increased and ICAN’s revenue has continued to expand. The former television producer and anti-vaccine filmmaker, whose group was well-known for its eye-catching stunts and freedom of information requests, served as Kennedy’s third-party presidential campaign’s communications director and gave him advice as he got ready for his possible position as secretary of health and human services.
Requests for response from Bigtree and ICAN were not answered.
Katie Miller, a spokesperson for Kennedy s transition team who was recently named to join the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, said Bigtree was never involved in the transition, and his views do not represent Mr. Kennedy s or President Trump s administration.
ICAN is not required to disclose individual donors, though tax documents filed last year show large donations from family foundations and donor-advised funds, philanthropic intermediaries that combine and anonymize donations.
The organization has praised what it describes as a number of significant victories from the previous year, such as the lawsuit that compelled Mississippi to provide vaccine exemptions for religious reasons. According to the group, it intends to employ a similar tactic against the five other states that forbid religious exemptions.
ICAN relies on individual supporters to fund production of anti-vaccine content, including The HighWire, a weeklyanti-vaccine and conspiracy-ladeninternet show hosted by Bigtree that the group describes as its educational arm. Bigtree punctuates the show not with commercials but with impassioned pleas for donations, recently with multimillion-dollar fundraising goals associated with specific legal fights.
ICAN s largest expenditure last year, $6 million, was to the New York law firm Siri & Glimstad, which pursues public records requests, intervenes in state anti-vaccine fights and petitions the federal government to pause or revoke vaccines, includingone for polio. Led by Aaron Siri, an attorney and Kennedy adviser, the firm, aided by dozens of attorneys working on vaccine cases, has been paid some $20 million by ICAN since 2017, according to tax documents.
Siri defended his work in an email to NBC News, saying his petitions sought increased safety for vaccines and that ICAN s financial support was trivial compared to spending by the pharmaceutical industry.
Miller said Siri was no longer involved in the transition and that he does not represent Kennedy s views.
ICAN describes its legal efforts as advocating for humanity s right to informed consent. Experts have described it as an exploitation of the courts. Again and again, this anti-vaccine group misrepresented both the legal and the factual meanings of court decisions, settlements, and other legal actions to create a narrative to galvanize its followers and influence newcomers, a2022 articlein the Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy read. (Siri called the article replete with categorically false claims. )
The intent of other spending was less clear. ICAN paid $176,000 for research consulting to a U.K. company headed bya chiropractorwho has lectured on what he claims are dangers from vaccines and 5G technology. The group also paid $152,000 for consulting to Uncover DC, a news website founded and edited by Tracy Diaz, known online as Tracy Beanz, a popular conspiracy theorist andearly promoterin the QAnon movement. Diaz, who describes her site as actual journalism, posts news releases for ICAN and writes for the nonprofit s website as a contributor.
Bigtree took home a $234,000 salary from ICAN in 2023, in addition to his income from paid speaking engagements (he says he only charges for ticketed events). Bigtree also earned $350,000 for consulting and communications work on Kennedy s presidential campaign over the past two years through KFP Consulting, a Texas organization registered to Bigtree.
Bigtree now helms a super PAC (MAHA Alliance) and a nonprofit organization (MAHA Action), both short for Make America Healthy Again, a spin on Trump s MAGA motto adopted by Kennedy after he dropped out of the race and endorsed the ultimately winning candidate.
Bigtree acknowledged his multiple streams of income and endeavors on The HighWire in November. I feel incredibly blessed by God that I had all these opportunities converging all at once, he said.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!