Del Bigtree, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement, brought in a record windfall last year for the nonprofit group he founded, according to the latest tax filings.
The Informed Consent Action Network, known as ICAN, reported $23 million in revenue for 2023, a 74% increase from the previous year. The group spent nearly $17 million on efforts including legal battles and anti-vaccine advocacy, an increase of about 25% from the year before.
The tax documents, obtained by NBC News from ICAN, show the increasing prominence and profitability of the anti-vaccine movement in the ongoing fight over vaccine policies and public health. The pandemic supercharged groups like ICAN, which reported about $3.5 million in revenue in 2019, expanding the audience interested in anti-vaccine content and growing the coffers of those who produce it. Numerous studies have found that vaccines are safe and save lives, and are not linked to autism, but that hasn’t stopped misinformation from spreading.
Revenue for Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had been on the rise as well until last year, when it dropped more than 30%, to $16 million. This loss coincided with Kennedy taking a leave from his positions as chairman and chief litigation counsel to launch an unsuccessful presidential bid.
But ICAN’s revenue continued to grow, and Bigtree’s profile has risen. The former television producer and anti-vaccine filmmaker, whose organization was known for attention-grabbing stunts and filing freedom of information requests, became communications director for Kennedy’s third-party presidential campaign and advised Kennedy as he prepared for his potential role as secretary of Health and Human Services.
Bigtree and ICAN did not respond to requests for comment.
Katie Miller, a spokesperson for Kennedy’s transition team who was recently named to join the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, said Bigtree was never involved in the transition, and his views “do not represent Mr. Kennedy’s or President Trump’s administration.”
ICAN is not required to disclose individual donors, though tax documents filed last year show large donations from family foundations and donor-advised funds, philanthropic intermediaries that combine and anonymize donations.
The group has celebrated what it characterizes as several big wins last year, including litigation that forced Mississippi to grant religious exemptions from vaccines. The group says it plans to pursue a similar strategy targeting the five other states that don’t allow religious exemptions.
ICAN relies on individual supporters to fund production of anti-vaccine content, including “The HighWire,” a weekly anti-vaccine and conspiracy-laden internet show hosted by Bigtree that the group describes as its educational arm. Bigtree punctuates the show not with commercials but with impassioned pleas for donations, recently with multimillion-dollar fundraising goals associated with specific legal fights.
ICAN’s largest expenditure last year, $6 million, was to the New York law firm Siri & Glimstad, which pursues public records requests, intervenes in state anti-vaccine fights and petitions the federal government to pause or revoke vaccines, including one for polio. Led by Aaron Siri, an attorney and Kennedy adviser, the firm, aided by dozens of attorneys working on vaccine cases, has been paid some $20 million by ICAN since 2017, according to tax documents.
Siri defended his work in an email to NBC News, saying his petitions sought increased safety for vaccines and that ICAN’s financial support was “trivial” compared to spending by the pharmaceutical industry.
Miller said Siri was no longer involved in the transition and that he does not represent Kennedy’s views.
ICAN describes its legal efforts as “advocating for humanity’s right to informed consent.” Experts have described it as an exploitation of the courts. “Again and again, this anti-vaccine group misrepresented both the legal and the factual meanings of court decisions, settlements, and other legal actions to create a narrative to galvanize its followers and influence newcomers,” a 2022 article in the Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy read. (Siri called the article “replete with categorically false claims.”)
The intent of other spending was less clear. ICAN paid $176,000 for “research consulting” to a U.K. company headed by a chiropractor who has lectured on what he claims are dangers from vaccines and 5G technology. The group also paid $152,000 for consulting to Uncover DC, a news website founded and edited by Tracy Diaz, known online as Tracy Beanz, a popular conspiracy theorist and early promoter in the QAnon movement. Diaz, who describes her site as “actual journalism,” posts news releases for ICAN and writes for the nonprofit’s website as a contributor.
Bigtree took home a $234,000 salary from ICAN in 2023, in addition to his income from paid speaking engagements (he says he only charges for ticketed events). Bigtree also earned $350,000 for consulting and communications work on Kennedy’s presidential campaign over the past two years through KFP Consulting, a Texas organization registered to Bigtree.
Bigtree now helms a super PAC (MAHA Alliance) and a nonprofit organization (MAHA Action), both short for Make America Healthy Again, a spin on Trump’s MAGA motto adopted by Kennedy after he dropped out of the race and endorsed the ultimately winning candidate.
Bigtree acknowledged his multiple streams of income and endeavors on “The HighWire” in November. “I feel incredibly blessed by God that I had all these opportunities converging all at once,” he said.
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