This is a copy of the original legal complaint filed by Charles and David Koch in 2012 to try to regain control of the Cato Institute, which Charles Koch founded with Ed Crane and others in 1977.

This document was first published in Politico, in a piece by Mike Allen that was allegedly pitched by Charles Koch’s staff. (Mike Allen later served as a master of ceremonies for a forum of presidential candidates at a private donor meeting convened by Charles Koch). A long-form article by Luke Mullins in the Washingtonian magazine by Luke Mullins was particularly rich in detail.

A list of media criticizing the actions of Koch executives can be found on the archived “Save Cato” webpage, which includes all of the legal filings and other documentation. The archived Koch v Cato website contains many articles from Cato staff, along with a vast Bibliography of articles on the controversy. Media promoting the Koch perspective can be found on the archived “For a Better Cato” website.

A large selection of the reporting and commentary on the Koch brothers feud with Cato is available below the lawsuit filing:

Media Reports:

• Jane Mayer, The Kochs v. Cato: Winners and Losers, The New Yorker, 6/27/2012
• Kenneth P. Vogel, Cato, Kochs settle ownership fight, Politico, 6/25/2012
• Matt Pearce, Koch brothers’ effort to take over Cato Institute appears over, LA Times, 6/25/2012
• Luke Mullins, The Battle for the Cato Institute, Washingtonian Magazine, 5/30/2012
• Mark Ames, Independent and Principled? Behind the Cato Myth, The Nation, 4/20/2012
• Michel Martin, Could Billionaire Koch Brothers Ruin Cato?, NPR, 4/16/2012
• Paul Blumenthal, FreedomWorks, Koch Brothers Clash Over Cato Institute Takeover Bid, HuffPost, 4/12/2012
• Allen McDuffee, Koch vs. Cato: Koch brothers file second lawsuit over ‘Board-packing scheme’, Washington Post, 4/10/2012
• Zaid Jilani, Congressman Jared Polis Tells Us Why He Opposes The Koch Takeover Of Cato, Republic Report, 4/3/2012
• Ezra Klein, Why Do the Kochs Want to Kill Cato Institute?, Bloomberg opinion, 3/7/2012
• Lee Fang, Meet The Lobbyists Helping Charles Koch Take Over The Cato Institute And Turn It Into Another Koch Front, Republic Report, 3/6/2012
• Jane Mayer, Kochs vs. Cato, Round Two, The New Yorker, 3/5/2012
• T.W. Farnam, Koch brothers sue for control of Cato Institute, Washington Post, 3/3/2012
• Laurie Bennett, Who Knew That Cato Had Shareholders?, Forbes, 3/2/2012
• Alison Frankel, How good is the Kochs’ case in the Cato flap? (archived), Thomson Reuters, 3/2/2012
• Jane Mayer, The Kochs vs. Cato, The New Yorker, 3/1/2012

Commentary by Libertarians, Cato Staff & Alumni

A voluminous archives of commentary on the Koch dispute with Cato is preserved on the archived Koch v. Cato Bibliography, including most of the posts below, and more.

• Joey Coon, Ten Questions for the Kochs, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/26/2012
• Ted Galen Carpenter, The Most Subtle Danger to Cato from a Koch Takeover, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/24/2012
• The Crane Chronicles, Part III: Ed Gone Wild, Breitbart, 4/23/2012
• Jim Harper, The Kochs, Cato, and Miscalculation—Part III, Technology Liberation Front, 4/20/2012
• Jerry Taylor, Blundell Comes Out in Favor of An Independent Cato, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/20/2012
• Robert Wenzel, The Drugged Lady Sings: The Koch-Cato Power Opera is About to End (with extensive comments), Economic Policy Journal, 4/17/2012
• Tad DeHaven, Guest Post by Cato’s Tad DeHaven, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/12/2012
• Justin Logan, Save the Cato Institute, Save the World?, Foreign Policy, 4/12/2012
• Gene Healy, Koch v. [REDACTED], Koch v. Cato archive, 4/12/2012
• Jerry Taylor, A Tale of Two Kochs, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/11/2012
• Patrick Brennan, FreedomWorks Sides with Cato, Blames Kochs, The Corner blog, National Review, 4/11/2012
• Jerry Taylor, Pyrotechnics about Partisanship, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/10/2012
• Michael F. Cannon, Open letter to Charles & David Koch, (plus archived comments) Politico, 4/10/2012
• Jerry Taylor, Koch Suzerainty at Cato – a Long Standing Affair?, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/10/2012
• Patrick Brennan, Kochs Sue Cato over Board-Packing, The Corner blog, National Review, 4/10/2012
• Jerry Taylor, w, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/10/2012
• James A. Dorn, Saving the Cato Institute’s Culture of Liberty, Forbes opinion, 4/9/2012
• Christopher Preble, Why I Fear for the Future of Cato, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/9/2012
• Gene Healy and Jerry Taylor, Why Are the Kochs after Cato?, National Review, 4/9/2012
• Walter Olson, Letter from a think tank: Deliver us from deliverables, Secular Right blog, 4/6/2012
• Justin Logan, Dueling Visions of the War of Ideas, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/6/2012
• Jerry Taylor, About Those “Unanimously Elected” Koch Operatives, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/5/2012
• Gene Healy, Kevin Gentry and the Independence of Cato’s Board, Koch v. Cato archive, 4/5/2012
• Kevin Gentry (Koch Industries executive), Koch believes in an independent Cato, CNN, 4/5/2012
• Jim Harper, The Kochs, Cato, and Miscalculation—Part II, Technology Liberation Front, 4/5/2012
• Mark Calabria, The Need for an Independent Voice on Regulation, Koch v. Cato archived website, 4/5/2012
• Crane Chronicles Part II: The Care and Feeding of Board Members, Breitbart, 4/4/2012
• Robert. A Levy (Cato Chairman), Cato must not turn into a tool for Koch, CNN, 4/2/2012
• John Tamny, It’s the Culture, Stupid: Why the Cato Institute Should Remain Independent, Forbes opinion, 4/1/2012
• Jim Harper, The Kochs, Cato, and Miscalculation, Technology Liberation Front, 3/30/2012
• The Crane Chronicles, Part I: How and Why Ed Crane Pushed the Koch Brothers Conspiracy Theory, Breitbrt, 3/27/2012
• Michael Tanner, Why I Fear a Koch Takeover Of the Cato Institute, Forbes opinion, 3/25/2012
• Dave Weigel, “Who the Hell is Going to Take a Think Tank Seriously If It’s Controlled by Billionaire Oil Guys?’ Cato’s President Speaks., Slate, 3/22/2012
• Dave Weigel, David Koch Attacks Cato President for Talking to Jane Mayer, Slate, 3/22/2012
• Matt Welch, David Koch Blasts Ed Crane, Bob Levy, and the Save Cato Campaign (with extensive comments), Reason, 3/22/2012
• Gene Healy, Cato’s Ian Vasquez on What the Kochs Have Wrought, Gene Healy website, 3/17/2012
• Gene Healy, Cato Adjunct Scholar Richard Gordon on Keeping Cato Independent, Gene Healy website, 3/15/2012
• E. Frank Stephenson, Charles Murray, Cato, and Property Rights, Division of Labour blog, 3/15/2012
• Michael Cannon, Why Conservatives Should Help Save the Cato Institute, Forbes opinion, 3/15/2012
• Trevor Burrus, The Cato-Koch Suit: Analyzing The Kochs’ PR Statements, Trevor Burrus blog, 3/14/2012
• Marie Gryphon, Koch Brothers v. Scholarship, Marie Gryphon archived blog, 3/14/2012
• Charles Murray, On the Cato-Koch Affair, National Review, 3/14/2012
• Matt Welch, Koch/Cato Update: Charles G. Koch Speaks, Bob Levy Responds (with extensive comments), Reason, 3/12/2012
• Robert Levy, A Response to Charles Koch from Robert A. Levy, Chairman, Cato Institute, Cato Institute, 3/12/2012
• Matt Fay, Save Cato: Preserving a Voice in the Wilderness, Hegemonic Obsessions, 3/9/2012
• Brink Lindsey, Koch vs. Cato — A Guest Post by Brink Lindsey, Bleeding Heart Libertarians, 3/8/2012
• Jerry O’Driscoll, The Battle for Cato, ThinkMarkets, 3/8/2012
• Will Wilkinson, More on the Fight over the Cato Institute, Big Think, 3/8/2012
• Matt Welch, More Details on the Increasingly Bitter Koch/Cato Lawsuit and Feud, Reason, 3/7/2012
• Noah Smith, Libertarians: Only now, at the end, do you understand…, (with extensive comments), Noahpinion, 3/6/2012
• Dave Weigel, Hot, Fresh Koch Damage Control, Slate, 3/6/2012
• Thomas DiLorenzo, Murray Rothbard’s Strategic Vision Was Right, LewRockwell.com, 3/6/2012
• Gene Healy, An Open Letter to Koch Program Alumni, Gene Healy website, 3/5/2012
• Will Wilkinson, Cato and the Kochs, Big Think, 3/6/2012
• Justin Logan, What a Koch Takeover of Cato Would Mean for the Foreign Policy Debate, The American Conservative, 3/6/2012
• Brad Delong, The Kochtopus vs. Those Individuals Now Seized of the Cato Institute; or, No Libertarians in Foxholes Department, Delong’s Grasping Reality, 3/5/2012
• Timothy B. Lee, Save the Cato Institute, Forbes opinion, 3/5/2012
• Daniel Foster, Cato Scholar to Kochs: ‘You Can’t Probably Fire Me, I Sorta Quit!’, The Corner blog, National Review, 3/5/2012
• Dave Weigel, Cato Goes to War, 3/5/2012
• Jonathan Blanks, On the Koch/Cato fight, The Blanks Slate, 3/5/2012
• Julian Sanchez, Cato and the Kochs: A Presignation Letter (see archived version for extensive comments), 3/5/2012
• Charles Rowley, Koch versus Cato: unravelling the riddle, Charles Rowley’s blog, 3/5/2012
• Jason Kuznicki, Koch v. Cato – Some Further Thoughts (with extensive comments), 3/4/2012
• Don Boudreaux, Cato and the Kochs, Cafe Hayek, 3/4/2012
• Charles Rowley, Death of William A. Niskanen opens door for Koch takeover of Cato Institute, Charles Rowley’s blog, 3/4/2012
• Brad Delong, Ed Crane and the Cato Institute vs. the Kochtopus!, Delong’s Grasping Reality, 3/3/2012
• Jonathan Adler, Koch v. Cato — A View from Cato (with extensive comments), Volokh Conspiracy, 3/3/2012
• Ilya Somin, The Cato Institute and the Kochs (with extensive comments), Volokh Conspiracy, 3/3/2012
• Jonathan Adler, Koch v. Cato Follow Up (with extensive comments), Volokh Conspiracy, 3/3/2012
• Jonathan Adler, Koch v. Cato (with extensive comments), Volokh Conspiracy, 3/2/2012
• Matt Welch, Koch Brothers Sue Cato in Ownership Dispute, Reason, 3/2/2012
• J. Arthur Bloom, The Cato Putsch, The American Conservative, 3/2/2012
• Dave Weigel, Behind the Cato-Koch Kerfuffle, Slate, 3/1/2012