Sullivan profited from company that paid $65 million fraud settlement

Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan is personally and financially linked to a chemical company that paid a $65 million settlement for allegedly defrauding the federal government.

RPM International, based in Ohio, was founded by Sullivan’s grandfather and is currently run by his brother, Frank C. Sullivan. The senator owns up to $5 million worth of RPM stock, making it his largest holding.

In 2013, the Justice Department accused Tremco Inc., an RPM subsidiary, of overcharging the federal government for roofing contracts. A whistleblower said the company knowingly failed to extend discounts offered to other customers and overcharged the government for materials. The overcharge was estimated to be $28 million.

RPM and Tremco agreed to pay $65.1 million to make the allegations go away. RPM maintained that the discrepancies were the result of human error, not deceit.

Sullivan was elected to the U.S. Senate the following year. Since then, RPM has been awarded more than $5 million in new government contracts.

Since President Donald Trump was reelected, his administration has used concerns about fraud and waste to justify cutting government programs and services. Sullivan supported these efforts, which often stopped short of scrutinizing corporations like the one his family owns.

In 2025, Sullivan voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will cut $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade, forcing 12 million Americans to lose their health insurance. Sullivan said in a press release that the bill would eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse” from the program, even though most Medicaid fraud is committed by providers and corporate contractors, not enrollees.

Sullivan was similarly supportive of DOGE, the Trump administration program that withheld appropriated government funds in the name of rooting out waste and fraud. NPR reported that these cuts primarily focused on research grants, educational programs, and foreign aid while leaving many of the government’s largest corporate contracts intact.

Sullivan made up to $550,000 from his RPM holdings between 2014 and 2024.

Sullivan is running for a third term this year and is expected to face former Rep. Mary Peltola in the general election.