Brown’s New Mega-Donor’s Company Was Cited by the Justice Dept for “Pricing Scheme That Harms Millions of American Renters”

Brown’s New Mega-Donor’s Company Was Cited by the Justice Dept for “Pricing Scheme That Harms Millions of American Renters”

Recently, Brown University announced with great fanfare a $12 million gift from the family foundation of Orlando Bravo.

But that is just a portion of Bravo’s support of Brown. A spokeswoman for him told GoLocal in an email, “Orlando Bravo and his foundation have donated more than $45 million to Brown University, including a $25 million gift in 2019.”

GoLocal wrote about that gift previously.

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Bravo is a founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo. He led Thoma Bravo’s “early entry into software buyouts and built the firm into one of the largest software-focused investors in the world, with over $183 billion in assets under management.”

One of Bravo's companies is RealPage, and in 2024, the U.S. Justice Department under President Biden and eight states sued the company, alleging in a civil lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Greensboro, North Carolina, that RealPage was taking part in an illegal price-fixing scheme to reduce competition among landlords, The goal, according to allegations, was so they can boost prices — and profits. It also alleged the company took over the market for such price-setting software, effectively monopolizing it, ProPublica reported.

The states whose attorneys general joined the federal lawsuit were North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington, but not Rhode Island.

“RealPage has built a business out of frustrating the natural forces of vigorous competition,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter at a news conference in August of 2024 with top department officials. “The time has come to stop this illegal conduct.”

“We learned that the modern machinery of algorithms and AI can be even more effective than the smoke-filled rooms of the past,” Kanter said in 2024, referring to artificial intelligence. “You don’t need a Ph.D. to know that algorithms can make coordination among competitors easier.”

“RealPage uses data responsibly, including limited aggregated and anonymized nonpublic data where accuracy aids pro-competitive uses,” the company said in a statement at the time.

Months after the Trump administration came to office, the Justice Department settled the case. RealPage paid no fine and admitted no violations, but agreed to some software changes.

 

According to a report in the Lever:

RealPage executives have long donated to the National Multifamily Housing Council, the largest landlord lobby in Washington. NMHC, in turn, specifically lobbied on “risks and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies on rental housing financing, development, and property operations,” in the first quarter of 2025. 

But NMHC isn’t the only vehicle RealPage has to influence lawmakers–the company has spent $130,000 this year to “provide advice and counsel on algorithmic pricing issues” to the House and Senate via lobbying firm Polaris.

RealPage’s private equity owner, Thoma Bravo, spent $200,000 in 2025 enlisting Ballard Partners to represent the company on “issues related to competition in the housing industry,” though the current disclosures don’t indicate lobbying took place in the first two quarters of 2025. Ballard Partners is uniquely connected to the Trump administration: the firm sourced multiple of his appointees, including Department of Justice head Pam Bondi.

Thoma Bravo has also spent $220,000 thus far in 2025 paying lobbying firm Tiber Creek Group to lobby the Department of Justice on “issues related to competition in the housing industry” as well. The DOJ’s Antitrust Division is handling the government’s investigation and lawsuit against RealPage. That means RealPage’s owner has spent, in total, $420,000 lobbying on housing issues thus far in 2025.

Bravo did not respond to questions about RealPage.

 

Providence Rents, AI-Driven Technology, Lawsuit

Presently, Providence is in a housing crisis driven by increasing home and rent prices. And, many advocated, and the City Council worked to stop the type of tech-driven, anti-competitive rent increases like those allegedly caused by Bravo’s company, RealPage.

In 2025, the City Council passed an ordinance barring this type of price fixing.

This past week, the City of Providence filed an enforcement action against Audubon Capital Partners, LLC, "alleging unlawful engagement in rent price coordination via algorithmic device setting. Algorithmic pricing software is used to analyze public and private market trends and occupancy rates in a given area and was banned in Providence last year to prevent price-fixing patterns that drive up rental prices.”  

“When corporations unlawfully utilize these algorithms to artificially raise rent prices, we will hold them accountable,” said Mayor Brett Smiley. “Across the country we have seen the use of algorithmic software create unfair housing markets that prioritize profit, reduce competition and drive-up rent prices.”

The enforcement action concerns 95 Lofts, a building in the Jewelry District that the Boston-based private equity real estate firm acquired in January. According to the Providence City Council's press office, in March, tenants submitted complaints and documentation to members of the Providence City Council, including lease renewal offers showing dramatic rent increases across different lease terms and written communication from property management stating that “lease rates are generated through a dynamic pricing system that evaluates several factors, including market conditions and the number of expected vacancies during a specific timeframe. In some cases, the software may price certain lease terms higher if a larger number of apartments are projected to become available in that particular month.” 

“The City Council passed this law to prevent bad corporate behavior and protect residents," said Council President Rachel Miller. “Corporations cannot be allowed to hide behind software while they squeeze tenants for maximum profits, manipulate the housing market, and drive rents higher in a city where working people are already struggling to stay in their homes. I’m proud that Providence is taking action to enforce the protections this Council put in place.” 

 

Bravo’s Gift to Brown to Support the Economics Department, Brown Pushing to Tear Down Houses for New Economics Building

In an ironic twist, Bravo’s most recent $12 million donation, in part, supports the economics department at Brown.

Brown is seeking to demolish four homes in the Fox Point section of Providence to build a new economics department building. That plan is opposed by many in the neighborhood. Previously, Brown had promised to rehab the homes and then in 2025 had announced they were being marketed for sale.

Marisa Brown, the executive director of Providence Preservation Society, raised strong concerns.

"Brown treats the city's fabric as expendable. This is not new. It's been going on since the 1950s, when Brown's demolition of more than 50 historic homes led to PPS's formation in 1956. PPS has many serious concerns about this project and we will be articulating them -- with action recommendations -- in the statement that goes out this week," said Brown.

According to Brown, Bravo’s gift is not specifically for the proposed building. The gift is to support funding for endowed faculty positions.

This is not the first controversial donor to Brown. GoLocal has outlined Brown's donations from the Lindemann family and from Sidney Frank.

In 2022, Brown defended their policies.

"Brown has detailed policies and practices in place to guide our work with donors, including gift acceptance and naming policies. Among the provisions, our policies make clear that acceptance of a gift does not imply or mean that the University endorses or approves of a donor’s views, opinions, businesses or activities. Those policies and practices guided our decision-making, and we accepted this gift with full confidence," said Brian Clark, Associate Vice President for News and Editorial Development, in a statement to GoLocal in May of 2022 regarding questions about the selling of the naming rights to the Performing Arts Center to the Lindemann family.