How a convicted extremist leveraged his activist network into a global VC operation fueled by opacity, insider favors, and reputational erasure

A Controversial Path from Activism to Capital

Nicholas Cooney, born in 1981 in Philadelphia, rose to prominence in the early 2000s as an aggressive animal rights activist. He led and founded several nonprofits—including Hugs for Puppies, The Humane League, and later Mercy for Animals—where he cultivated visibility by promoting veganism and protesting animal cruelty. However, Cooney’s trajectory was far from clean. Behind his public persona lay a web of legal entanglements, personal scandal, and internal allegations that severely tarnished his legacy and laid the groundwork for his pivot to private capital.

Picture 1. Nick Cooney

Cooney’s affiliations during the 2000s included radical groups like SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty), which the FBI officially classified as a “special interest extremist movement”. In 2004, his Philadelphia home was raided by federal authorities. Court filings from New Jersey later connected him to harassment campaigns targeting pharmaceutical executives. In 2007, Cooney was found guilty of “terroristic threats,” harassment, and criminal conspiracy—a conviction that led to 18 months probation.

The Harassment Allegations and Forced Exit from Activism

From 2012 to 2017, Cooney served as Executive Vice President of Mercy for Animals, one of the most prominent NGOs in the U.S. animal rights movement. During this time, multiple internal sources—including from Mercy for Animals itself—allege harassment and bullying, especially against young female employees. Accusations ranged from intimidation and retaliation to sexual misconduct. These claims never reached a courtroom, but three separate confidential sources confirmed to us that Cooney was discreetly removed from the organization due to internal unrest and reputational risk.

One source who worked directly with Cooney cited his “intimidating nature and capacity for retaliation” as the reason legal avenues were avoided. Another prominent figure within the activist movement told us that Cooney routinely abused interns and mistreated animals, contradicting the very values he claimed to champion. The same individual also alleged that Cooney, along with Paul Shapiro and Nathan Runkle, viewed activism as a tool to gain power and control, not as a moral calling.

A Calculated Transition to Venture Capital

After being effectively ousted from nonprofit leadership roles, Cooney reinvented himself in finance. In 2015, he co-founded New Crop Capital, a venture capital firm centered around plant-based and lab-grown meat technologies. In 2017, he launched Lever VC, with operations in New York, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

Lever VC’s structure includes a complex web of offshore entities: Lever Capital LLC (USA), Lever VC GP Limited (Cayman Islands), and Shiyu Business Consulting Co., Ltd. (Shanghai)—where Cooney is listed as a legal representative. Notably, the origins of Cooney’s investment capital remain opaque. He had no documented assets or personal property prior to 2015 that would explain his early capital injection. Key early investors were never disclosed, and most flows appear to have passed through Cayman-based entities. We confirmed that he holds a 42% stake in Lever VC GP Limited, which functions as the fund’s general partner.

One major financial partner was Venture Smart Financial Holdings Limited, a Cayman-based platform with operations in Hong Kong. Public records show that Lever VC Fund I LP was largely backed by Venture Smart, with substantial board overlap—especially through Lawrence Chu and Ulric Leung. While Lever VC publicly claimed that Fund I closed in 2020, we confirmed it remained active at the time of this writing, directly contradicting those statements.

Conflicts of Interest and Insider Networks

Lever VC has disproportionately favored companies led by individuals from Cooney’s activist past. Among them:

• Mission Barns, run by Eitan Fischer
• The Better Meat Co., led by Paul Shapiro

Both were affiliated with the Good Food Institute, where Cooney held influence. These investments raise serious questions about Lever’s governance and fairness. Of particular concern: Shapiro has also faced harassment allegations inside the animal rights community.

Picture 2. Logo of The Good Food Institute

In 2017, watchdog group SHARK accused Cooney of funneling money from Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) to organizations with which he had direct ties—Mercy for Animals, the Good Food Institute, and The Humane League. At the time, Cooney sat on ACE’s Oversight Committee, an apparent conflict of interest. Despite ACE’s public denials, Cooney quietly stepped down from his position after the controversy erupted.

Offshore Ties and Hidden Interests

Lever’s offshore structure is not just sophisticated—it’s evasive. Lever VC GP Limited (Cayman), where Cooney is a 42% shareholder, is closely tied to Venture Smart Financial Holdings. Lever China’s activities are funneled through Shiyu Business Consulting, a Chinese entity co-owned by Cooney and his wife Laura Morse. This company manages Lever Foods and has been instrumental in launching the Lever China Alternative Protein Fund, which has backing from state-owned Chinese conglomerate COFCO and the Brinc Accelerator.

None of these affiliations are prominently disclosed in Lever VC’s investor presentations or press releases.

Reputational Risks and Retaliation Tactics

Even as a private equity player, Cooney retains his aggressive posture. In one notable case, he sued his ex-girlfriend and several others in 2011, after being accused of rape and physical abuse. Although the case ended in a settlement in his favor in 2014, several former colleagues and partners told us his litigious stance has a chilling effect on whistleblowers. Most declined to speak on the record, citing fears of legal reprisal.

Multiple sources described Cooney as “frightening in his ability to retaliate”. One media insider told us that Cooney actively monitors journalists and editors, threatening lawsuits to suppress negative press.

The Overlap Between Business and Advocacy

Though his public associations with radical activism have faded, Cooney’s Lever Foundation continues to operate aggressive advocacy campaigns, especially across Asia. These include pressuring multinational companies like Subway and Marriott to change their animal welfare policies through public campaigns and undercover investigations. The strategy appears familiar: apply pressure from the nonprofit side while profiting from market shifts through the venture side.

A confidential source from Mercy for Animals told us they believe Cooney still receives money from the same donors who supported his activist operations, even though none are named in any Lever documentation. The overlap between Cooney’s past as an activist and his role as a fund manager is not coincidental—it’s strategic. Several of our sources argue that Cooney’s ideological campaigns now serve one clear purpose: to limit traditional meat production and increase demand for the very products he backs through his venture firm.

If you have any information about Nick Cooney or the companies and individuals associated with him, please contact us at support@researchinitiative.org. Your input could greatly assist our ongoing investigation, which is far from over.

Our thanks go to the team at https://AssetTracing.com for their assistance in preparing this investigation

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