'Bewildered, betrayed and outraged': Billionaires sue No Labels for breach of contract

An influential billionaire family has filed a lawsuit against center-right group No Labels, claiming they were a victim of a "bait and switch" scheme that improperly spent funds donated for a specific purpose.

According to the New York Times, the Dursts — a family of New York real estate barons with an estimated net worth in excess of $8 billion — allege that No Labels breached a contractual agreement when it spent money the Durst family donated for nonpartisan political education on organizing a third-party presidential campaign. Cousins Douglas and Jonathan Durst are seeking damages over the misspending of $145,000 donated several years ago.

"This case seeks to hold No Labels accountable for the consequences of its misguided actions that have left its original benefactors like the Dursts feeling bewildered, betrayed and outraged," the lawsuit read.

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"No Labels has shifted seismically from its original mission, and its donors, like the Dursts, who believed in the mission and financially supported it, should not have to stand idly by," the suit continued, emphasizing that had the billionaires been "given any indication that [No Labels] might pursue such a gambit, the Dursts never would have funded the organization."

No Labels was initially established as a centrist, nonpartisan nonprofit organization that sought to find ways to build consensus between the two parties (typically by pressuring Democrats to accept conservative framing on issues). However, the group has repeatedly threatened to field a candidate on its own ballot line in certain key swing states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which could tilt the Electoral College in former President Donald Trump's favor, as his base is more committed than President Joe Biden's.

Last month, a bipartisan group of operatives from both political parties held a conference call in which they strategized on ways to apply pressure to No Labels should they move forward with their plan to run a presidential campaign. One speaker on the call warned potential candidates against allying with the group, saying "If you have one fingernail clipping of a skeleton in your closet, we will find it," and that "If you think you were vetted when you ran for governor, you're insane. That was nothing. We are going to come at you with every gun we can possibly find."

The Durst lawsuit also alludes to that line of thinking, with the plaintiffs arguing that "a third-party ticket option will only discourage bipartisan reform because it will take votes away from one of the major political candidates, giving an advantage to the other candidate... it is wrong, and No Labels must now be held accountable for it."

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Click here to read the Times' full report.