BATON ROUGE — Three months before ground was broken on Hut 8’s new River Bend data center in West Feliciana Parish, a company tied to the $10 billion project donated thousands of dollars to a political action committee associated with Gov. Jeff Landry.

Campaign finance records show that in June, Landry’s Cajun PAC II raised $377,500 and spent $209,578. Among the highest donations the PAC received in June was from US Data Mining Group Inc., which merged with Hut 8 in 2023, which contributed $25,000 on June 24.

Notably, the group shares a Miami address with American Bitcoin Inc., launched by Hut 8 with Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. American Bitcoin is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hut 8, with the tech company reportedly owning 80% stake of the company while the Trumps own the remaining 20%.

Louisiana Economic Development first announced the $10 billion project last December, though talks with West Feliciana Parish officials have been going on for years. Despite receiving $25,000 from the group, Landry reportedly told journalists at the SpaceX announcement in August that he didn’t know about the Hut 8 project planned for Louisiana. 

The project is currently slated to wrap up by the end of 2027. 

Landry’s office has not yet responded to requests for comment.