The HBO Original THE DARK MONEY GAME features two films, OHIO CONFIDENTIAL and WEALTH OF THE WICKED, both directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (HBO’s “Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos,” “The Crime of the Century“). OHIO CONFIDENTIAL debuts Tuesday, April 15 (9:00-11:00PM ET/PT) and WEALTH OF THE WICKED debuts Wednesday, April 16 @ the same time. Both films will be available to stream on Max on Tuesday, April 15.
THE DARK MONEY GAME films investigate the shadowy world of political donations and fundraising 15 years after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizen’s United case, which enabled unlimited spending by hidden sources on many political campaigns.
The project is inspired by Jane Mayer’s book “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right,” and features interviews with journalists, including Mayer, as well as lawmakers, judges, FBI investigators, whistleblowers, and insiders on both sides of the issue. Through two separate stories, the films reveal how an untraceable web of money from wealthy individuals and corporations representing business interests or religious agendas flows through non-profits and super PACs (political action committees) to support candidates and political movements.
In an environment where 90% of elections are won by the candidate who spends the most money, Gibney examines the legalities and ethics of unchecked financing, following the money to reveal the partisan organizations, corporations, and individuals inside and outside government who benefit from this flow of influence.
OHIO CONFIDENTIAL
Debut date: Tuesday, April 15 (9:00-11:00PM ET/PT)
When a powerful political lobbyist is found shot to death, his apparent suicide highlights a bizarre turn in Ohio’s largest public corruption case accidently uncovered by federal investigators that was nearly concealed by loose super PAC campaign financing rules.
FBI wiretap recordings ultimately unravel a conspiracy involving a secret $61 million-dollar slush fund for Ohio’s Speaker of the House to secure power in order to pay back corporate donors with a billion-dollar corporate bailout at the expense of the state’s taxpayers.
Featured Participants: Jane Mayer, journalist and author of “Dark Money“; Maureen O’Connor, former Chief Justice of Ohio’s Supreme Court; Laura A. Bischoff, journalist at The Columbus Dispatch; Jeffrey Williams, former FBI agent; Tyler Fehrman, former Republican campaign manager; Emily Glatfelter, assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Ohio; David M. Devillers, former U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Ohio.
WEALTH OF THE WICKED
Debut date: Wednesday, April 16 (9:00-11:00PM ET/PT)
The film traces the tangled history of campaign finance back to the creation of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 1975, the 2002 McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill, and the Citizens United decision of 2010 that has molded the shape and opacity of present-day super PACs, which now flood the system with money. The film looks at the stealth influence of religious groups and explores the fine line between a bribe and a political “gratuity” or donation, and the reciprocity between well-funded special-interest groups and the political process as well as attempts to influence the judiciary at the highest levels.
Featured Participants: Jane Mayer, journalist and author of “Dark Money“; Russ Feingold, former U.S. Senator; Rev. Robert Schenck; James Bopp, attorney for the National Right to Life Committee; David M. McIntosh, co-founder of The Federalist Society; Jonathan Riehl, author of “Inside The Federalist Society“; and Maureen O’Connor, former Chief Justice of Ohio’s Supreme Court.
Credits: HBO Documentary Films presents THE DARK MONEY GAME, a Jigsaw Production. Written and directed by Alex Gibney; produced by Trevor Davidoski, Alex Gibney, and John Jordan; executive produced by Jane Mayer and Richard Perello. For HBO: executive producers, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Sara Rodriguez.
