Who is Thomas Denny Sanford?

He's the richest man in South Dakota.  Forbes lists Sanford's wealth at $3.4 billion.  This is lower than it should be because T. Denny Sanford has pledged to give it all away in his lifetime and so far the guy's been doing a pretty good job at it.  This is just a small sample from his Wikipedia page.

As of October 2018, he had donated over $1 billion to a wide array of projects and foundations, many of which bear his name today including multiple Sanford medical facilities in North Dakota and throughout the Midwest.

Things took a turn in 2019

In 2019, Sanford donated $350 million to National University in addition to $150 million he had given previously. In honor of the donation, National University has changed its name to Sanford National University,but the name change was placed on hold after Sanford became subject of a South Dakota child pornography investigation

Note: They kept the $350 million but were shaky on the name change.

T. Denny Sanford has been listed as an "implicated individual" in the investigation.   According to KVRR Sanford's electronics were subject to search warrants

Sanford’s electronic devices came to the attention of investigators from the state attorney general’s office after a technology firm reported that child pornography had either been sent, received or downloaded on Sanford’s device.

There are five redacted warrants that after multiple media outlets pressed the case, were released for public viewing.  You can view all five warrant affidavits by clicking here.

The warrants were filed in December of 2019 and May of 2020.

Sanford Health has recently hit the headlines due to the discovery that it's former CEO Kevin Krabbenhoft, was paid more than $49 million in 2020. You may remember Kelby had been pushed out of his job for refusing to wear a mask.  Here's my story on that from November 2020.  If you felt he was persecuted at the time, maybe the $49 million golden parachute will help make that all better.

Back to the story of successful banker and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, the philanthropist that pledged to die broke...

T. Denny is currently facing no charges.

If the federal charges aren't filed, South Dakota would be able to take up the case.  So far nothing to see here folks.


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