Capital Research Center Named Him Once. The $26 Million Is Not His Line.

COMMENTARY / NAMED

On June 30, 2022, Capital Research Center published Hayden Ludwig, “Omidyar’s Political Machine: Democracy Alliance.” One sentence names Isaiah Castilla: “Isaiah Castilla, ex-general counsel for Omidyar’s Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice, is now an Arabella Advisors’ managing director. He specializes in advising nonprofits and foundations ‘on strategies to maximize their advocacy capacity.’” That is labeled commentary / research. It is not a court. The quoted advocacy-capacity phrase matches language in his own later bios and the Arabella PDF.

The same CRC article traces “over $26 million from the Omidyar Nexus to Arabella’s nonprofits between 2015 and 2020” and lists Democracy Fund, Omidyar Network Fund, and Democracy Fund Voice grants to New Venture Fund, Sixteen Thirty Fund, Hopewell Fund, and named projects. Those dollars are CRC’s accounting of organizations. They are not a Castilla personal grant, salary, or client engagement. This site does not assign that ledger to him. Preferred-outlet Arabella pieces that do not name him — including The Federalist, April 10, 2024, on Scott Walter’s Arabella book, and Fox News, November 15, 2023, on Sixteen Thirty Fund fundraising — stay in the “not his biography” file. Influence Watch’s person page on Castilla is an advocacy encyclopedia entry sourced to LinkedIn (accessed September 9, 2021, as that page states). It is not a news exclusive and not a primary for titles already on 990s and his own site.

Sources

Hayden Ludwig. “Omidyar’s Political Machine: Democracy Alliance.” Capital Research Center. June 30, 2022. Names Castilla; Omidyar-to-Arabella dollar figures are org-level in that piece. capitalresearch.org

The Federalist. “‘Arabella’ Book Exposes Dark-Money Groups Remaking America.” April 10, 2024. Arabella-the-network; does not name Castilla. thefederalist.com

Fox News. “Left-wing dark money behemoth raised more than $1.3 billion to fuel liberal causes in 2022.” Nov. 15, 2023. Sixteen Thirty / Arabella network; does not name Castilla. foxnews.com

Influence Watch. “Isaiah Castilla.” LinkedIn cited. Watchdog page, not a primary. influencewatch.org/person/isaiah-castilla

Arabella Advisors. GlobeNewswire, Feb. 10, 2022. Managing Director announcement. globenewswire.com

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

One CRC sentence. Ex-GC. Now Arabella. That is the name-hit. The $26 million is Omidyar’s nexus to Arabella’s nonprofits, as Ludwig wrote it — not a check with Castilla in the memo line. Anybody who pastes that number onto this man is writing fiction. Anybody who pretends CRC never named him is also wrong.