Maija Arbolino is the treasurer 1 and chief financial officer of the left-of-center Open Society Foundations (OSF), the principal philanthropic vehicle for liberal billionaire George Soros. 2 Since joining OSF in 1995, she has also worked as controller for international foundations, where she managed audits of OSF’s U.S. foundations, and as director of finance. 3
Following the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, Arbolino said on Twitter that she was “ashamed to be an American” and said she “despised” her fellow citizens. She has re-shared tweets supporting the far-left Black Lives Matter movement 4 and critical race theory 5 and opposing voter identification. 6
Career
Maija Arbolino joined Open Society Foundations, which was created and founded by liberal billionaire George Soros, in January 1995 as the controller for international foundations, managing the audits of OSF’s U.S. foundations. 2 She was promoted to director of finance and as of December 2021 is OSF’s chief financial officer. 3
Arbolino is the director and treasurer of the left-of-center Alliance for Open Society International, which is the legal operating name for Open Society Institute Baltimore, a field office of the Soros-funded Open Society Network, and the only operating field office for the Open Society Foundations. 7 She is the treasurer of the Foundation to Promote Open Society 8 and the treasurer of the left-of-center Fund for Policy Reform lobbying organization, which are within the Open Society Network. 9 10
Prior to joining OSF, Arbolino was a senior auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers and an assistant vice president at Deutsche Bank (at the time Bankers Trust) and the accounting firm Kidder Peabody. 2 She has also been a mentor with Philanthropy New York. 11
Political Positions
On her Twitter page, Maija Arbolino has re-shared posts that support the far-left Black Lives Matter movement, 12 support critical race theory, 5 oppose presenting photo identification to vote, 6 and supported the 2020 presidential campaign of Joe Biden. 12
Arbolino said she was “ashamed to be an American” and “despised” her fellow citizens following the 2016 election of Donald Trump. 13 Arbolino also “despises” 14 Trump and has called him a “strutting a**” 15 and a “pig” on Twitter. 16
Controversy
In November 2020, Arbolino was named in a written warning from the California Fair Political Practices Commission along with the left-of-center Fund for Policy Reform and other organizations which advocated for legalization of marijuana, parole for nonviolent offenders, repeal of the death penalty, and November runoff elections, for violations of the California Political Reform Act. This letter states Arbolino and the other named organizations failed to include the name of ballot measure sponsors and failed to file three 24-hour contribution reports for contributions totaling $2,670,000. 17
References
- Open Society Institute, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2019.
- “Maija Arbolino.” LinkedIn. Accessed December 3, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/maija-arbolino-9814825/.
- “Maija Arbolino.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed December 3, 2021. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/who-we-are/leadership/maija-arbolino.
- [1] “Tweet.” Twitter. Posted January 6, 2021. Accessed December 3, 2021. https://mobile.twitter.com/maija97.
- “Tweet.” Twitter. Posted November 1, 2021. Accessed December 3, 2021. https://mobile.twitter.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1455279182037102602
- “Tweet.” Occupy Democrats Twitter. Posted September 22, 2021. Accessed December 3, 2021. https://mobile.twitter.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1440703846095867919
- Alliance for Open Society, Inc., Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2018.
- Foundation to Promote Open Society, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2019.
- Fund for Policy Reform, Inc., Return of Organization Exempt Income Tax (Form 990), 2018.
- Fund for Policy Reform, Inc., Return of Organization Exempt Income Tax (Form 990), 2016.
- “Young Leaders Breakfast Club: Mentors.” Philanthropy New York. Accessed December 4, 2021. https://philanthropynewyork.org/young-leaders-breakfast-club-mentors.
- “Tweet.” Twitter. Posted January 6, 2021. Accessed December 3, 2021. https://mobile.twitter.com/maija97.
- “Tweet.” Twitter. Posted November 9, 2021. Accessed December 4, 2021. https://mobile.twitter.com/Maija97/status/796625799084285953.
- “Tweet.” Twitter. Posted November 10, 2016. Accessed December 4, 2021. https://mobile.twitter.com/Maija97/status/796625799084285953.
- “Tweet.” Twitter. Posted June 13, 2017. Accessed December 4, 2021. https://mobile.twitter.com/Maija97/status/874655525664944128.
- “Tweet.” Twitter. Posted April 21, 20217. Accessed December 4, 2021. https://mobile.twitter.com/Maija97/status/855396504927965185.
- November 10, 2020 Letter. State of California Fair Political Practices Commission. November 10, 2020. Accessed December 4, 2021. https://www.fppc.ca.gov/content/dam/fppc/documents/enf_letter/1-6-21/Maija%20Arbolino-%20201619653.pdf.