The Nonprofit Web — How Dark Money Connects the Desk to the Board to the Enterprise

The Connection That Closes the Loop

Until now, the Dykema desk and the Banks enterprise appeared to be parallel structures — both problematic, but not directly connected. Moore managed dark money. Banks ran schools. The desk managed Chatfield’s fund and Nessel’s fund. Banks’ school had an AAG on the board.

But there is a direct connection. And it runs through the Detroit City Council.

THE LOOP
════════

W. ALAN WILK (Dykema attorney)
    │
    ├── Formed SAVE DETROIT JOBS (2016)
    │       │
    │       ├── Renamed DETROIT LEADERS (Aug 2021)
    │       │       │
    │       │       └── Backed LATISHA JOHNSON for District 4
    │       │               │
    │       │               └── JOHNSON WINS
    │       │                       │
    │       │                       └── JOHNSON SITS ON PCA BOARD
    │       │                               │
    │       │                               └── PCA = BANKS' SCHOOL
    │       │
    │       ├── Officers include:
    │       │   • Kenneth Daniels (charged: bought Mercedes for convicted drug dealer)
    │       │   • Damian Mitchell (Detroit Board of Police Commissioners)
    │       │   • Keenann Knox (also on Our Neighborhoods First)
    │       │   • Carol Banks (paid $18,000+ from Save Detroit Jobs)
    │       │
    │       └── Renae Moore = Asst Secretary (compliance)
    │           Allison Chorey = Asst Treasurer
    │
    ├── Formed OUR NEIGHBORHOODS FIRST
    │       │
    │       ├── Attack ads against Duggan opponents
    │       ├── Keenann Knox = officer (same person as Save Detroit Jobs)
    │       └── Moore = compliance
    │
    └── Formed 6 MORE dark money 501(c)(4)s
            (Blue Mitten Action, Progress Can't Wait, etc.)


RENAE MOORE manages compliance for ALL of them.
From the SAME DESK that manages Chatfield's fund and Nessel's fund.

I. SAVE DETROIT JOBS → DETROIT LEADERS → LATISHA JOHNSON → PCA BOARD

The Entity

Source: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer

The Officers

The Pipeline: Dark Money → Board Seat

In August 2021, Save Detroit Jobs renamed itself Detroit Leaders — one week after the District 4 primary. Detroit Leaders then issued mailers backing Latisha Johnson for District 4, calling her “the leadership Detroit needs.”

Johnson won.

Johnson is now a Detroit City Council Member — and sits on the Purpose Charter Academy Board of Directors as Secretary.

The desk that manages the dark money also manages the pipeline that puts people on the board of the enterprise.

II. THE FBI CONNECTION

The Raids

In August 2021, the FBI raided the offices of Detroit City Council member Scott Benson and his chief of staff, Carol Banks (the same Carol Banks paid $18K+ by Save Detroit Jobs).

FBI agents seized:

• Bank records
• Campaign finance records
• 501(c)(4) social welfare organization records

Source: Deadline Detroit — “The messy intersection of dark money and Detroit politics”

What the FBI Was Looking For

The FBI’s Detroit Field Office was investigating:

• Towing corruption and council kickbacks
• 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofits as vehicles for corruption
• Campaign finance violations

University of Michigan professor Erik Gordon told The Detroit News: “Two of Detroit’s constant abuses are towing and social welfare organizations. Those seem to be the perennial avenues for corruption in Detroit.”

The Connections to This Investigation

The FBI was already looking at the exact same dark money structure that connects to the PCA board.

III. THE ENTITY PROLIFERATION — Bouncing Between Names

Save Detroit Jobs demonstrates the entity proliferation technique perfected across Moore’s 54+ accounts:

One Entity, Three Names

Same EIN. Same officers. Same compliance desk. Three names. Each name targets a different political moment.

The Pattern Across All Detroit-Named Entities

Moore manages at least 11 Detroit-focused entities with overlapping names, overlapping officers, and overlapping purposes:

11 entities. 11 EINs. 11 separate IRS filings. One compliance desk. One phone number: 517-374-9100.

IV. THE RICO NEXUS — How the Nonprofits Are Predicate Acts

Adding to the Enterprise (from The Enterprise)

The nonprofit web adds new dimensions to the RICO analysis:

Updated RICO Predicate Count

V. THE DYKEMA WEB — Every Connection Through One Firm

DYKEMA GOSSETT PLLC
201 Townsend St, Suite 900
Lansing, MI 48933

         WILK FORMS:                    MOORE MANAGES:
    ┌─────────────────┐            ┌──────────────────────┐
    │ Save Detroit Jobs│────────────│ Compliance for all   │
    │ Our Neighborhoods│────────────│                      │
    │ Blue Mitten      │────────────│ 54+ entities total   │
    │ Put Progress     │────────────│                      │
    │ Progress Can't   │────────────│ Peninsula (Chatfield)│
    │ MI First Princip │────────────│ Promise (Nessel)     │
    │ Michiganders Prog│────────────│ RFFW ($1M complaint) │
    │ Promoting Commun │────────────│ Dykema PAC ($164K)   │
    └─────────────────┘            └──────────────────────┘
            │                               │
            │                               │
    ┌───────┴────────────────────────────────┴──────┐
    │                                               │
    │  DUGGAN CAMPAIGN ←── Wilk is campaign lawyer  │
    │  CHATFIELD FUND  ←── Moore is Asst Treas      │
    │  NESSEL FUND     ←── Moore is Asst Sec        │
    │  JOHNSON ELECTED ←── Detroit Leaders backed    │
    │  PCA BOARD       ←── Johnson appointed         │
    │  BANKS SCHOOL    ←── PCA receives $4.9M/yr    │
    │  MORELAND (AAG)  ←── Nessel's employee on     │
    │                      the same board            │
    │                                               │
    │  THE ENTIRE PIPELINE RUNS THROUGH ONE FIRM    │
    └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

VI. KENNETH DANIELS — The President Who Bought a Drug Dealer a Car

Kenneth Daniels, president of Save Detroit Jobs / Detroit Leaders, was a Michigan State Representative (D-Detroit).

In 2014, Daniels was charged with helping buy a Mercedes-Benz for a convicted drug dealer.

Source: Deadline Detroit

This is the same entity that:

• Backed Latisha Johnson for city council
• Has Moore as compliance officer
• Was formed by Wilk at Dykema
• Is connected to the FBI-raided council offices

The president of the dark money entity that put a person on Banks’ school board was charged with buying a car for a convicted drug dealer. Banks IS a convicted drug dealer (Holland). The pattern repeats across entities and across decades.

VII. THE QUESTION FOR LATISHA JOHNSON

Council Member Johnson, the following questions are a matter of public record:

1. Did you know that Detroit Leaders (which backed your candidacy) was the renamed Save Detroit Jobs — a dark money entity connected to the FBI investigation into council corruption?

2. Did you know that W. Alan Wilk — the Dykema attorney who formed Detroit Leaders — also formed Our Neighborhoods First, which backed candidates whose offices were raided by the FBI?

3. Did you know that Renae Moore — the compliance officer for Detroit Leaders — manages 54+ political entities including one involved in a $1M money laundering complaint?

4. Did you know that Kenneth Daniels — the president of the entity that supported you — was charged with buying a Mercedes for a convicted drug dealer?

5. How did you come to sit on the PCA Board? Were you recruited? By whom?

6. As PCA Board Secretary, you oversee the governance of a school run by a man with 9 criminal convictions whose financial gatekeeper is a convicted drug dealer. Did the board discuss this at any meeting?

7. Your city council oversees DPSCD, which authorized Banks’ charter. You sit on both sides. Council authorizes the charter. You govern the school. Is there a conflict?

Verify

Route to Source — Light Up the Grid

The Deadline Detroit articles are already public. The ProPublica filings are already indexed. The LARA records are already searchable. The FEC data is already downloadable. We’re not creating evidence — we’re routing traffic to evidence that already exists on their own servers.