A portrait of Jeff Yass.
Photo: Eddie Malluk
Inside one of the largest options trading firms in the world sits a little known charitable foundation, that has quietly donated tens of millions of dollars to influence federal policy, education and law.
The firm and the foundation are twin enterprises of Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, and a small group of allies.
A poker-playing, libertarian billionaire, Yass is the largest individual donor to federal candidates this election cycle, with more than $46 million so far in contributions, according to data from the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.
Yass has given very few interviews and largely avoided publicity. But his charitable giving offers a rare window into his priorities and goals.
The Susquehanna Foundation operates out of the same suburban office building in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, as Susquehanna International Group, the trading firm Yass co-founded, according to tax records.
The foundation is run by Yass and other veteran Susquehanna executives, according to the documents that are current through 2022.
The Susquehanna Foundation is one of two foundations that Yass and his closest friends have funded and led.
The other foundation is even less well known: the Claws Foundation. Similar to Susquehanna, Claws is the charitable arm of one person: Arthur Dantchik, a co-founder of Susquehanna International Group with Yass, is the sole listed donor to Claws Foundation.
Since 2017, Dantchik has given over $150 million to the organization, according to the records. The group’s paperwork is held at the Sterling Foundation Management firm in Virginia, over 150 miles away from Susquehanna International.
Yass and Dantchik declined to comment through a spokesman.
The Susquehanna and Claws foundations have been entirely seeded over the past decade by contributions from Yass, his wife and other allies linked to Susquehanna.
The two foundations have combined to give over $25 million to libertarian-minded nonprofit groups since 2016, according to…
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