Willis Carto archive

Including information about his associates

The Liberty Lobby Mailing List Scandal

May 18, 1998

Since the revelation that the bankruptcy filing of Liberty Lobby will almost inevitably result in the the Spotlight mailing list being made public, some readers of these e-mail messages have expressed concern about left-wing groups and governmental agencies making use of the list for their own purposes.

In my opinion, this concern is well-founded. However, if the Liberty Lobby/Spotlight mailing list does fall into the wrong hands, it will not be the first time sensitive information about well-meaning supporters has passed into enemy hands, apparently with Carto’s blessing.

For example, in 1989, under Carto’s watchful eye, portions of the IHR mailing list fell into the hands of the ADL. Included were the names, addresses, and phone numbers of those who attended the Ninth International Revisionist Conference (February). The leak was discovered after San Francisco police seized the records of ADL informant Roy Bullock (April 1993). Although Carto subsequently denounced Bullock as a spy, Bullock was at one time a close associate of Carto and Carto employee Michel Collins Piper, and was even allowed to set up headquarters in the Liberty Lobby building in Washington, DC. It is unknown what access Bullock had to sensitive information.

It is, however, now known that Carto has for many years improperly moved money around among various non-profit and for-profit corporations, claiming that he controls the money but has no responsibility for any improprieties arising out of the misuse of those monies. It is now known that one of Carto’s closest associates, Henry Fischer, is internationally notorious for his shady money dealings, and has been called a CIA agent by former associates in Australia. Carto and Spotlight staffer Michael Collins Piper worked with ADL informant Roy Bullock, to the point that when Bullock was in DC he advised others to contact him in care of Liberty Lobby. It is well known that Carto has claimed that Liberty Lobby is broke, and that he personally makes so little money each year that he isn’t required to file income tax statements, yet he lives in a mansion in southern California and jets back and forth to Washington, DC, to work, while his wife goes on frequent trips abroad. Under oath, Carto and his wife Elisabeth have implied that their mishandling of monies is so egregious that revealing any details about their assets could easily result in criminal prosecution.

Yet, there is no evidence of any ongoing investigation of the Cartos by the IRS, the FBI, or even state or local police. And after it was revealed that The Spotlight was implicated in the Oklahoma City bombing, its role was quietly dropped by both the FBI and the media. It’s almost as if The Spotlight is so valuable to left-wing and law-enforcement groups that Liberty Lobby (and Carto) have been granted an informal kind of immunity so it can continue to stay in business.

Whatever the truth turns out to be, the facts certainly don’t square with Carto’s oft-repeated claim that he and Liberty Lobby are being persecuted by left-wing and governmental forces. Quite the opposite seems to be the case, and for all we know, the Liberty Lobby/Spotlight mailing list has been repeatedly compromised over the last several years.