A fake flyer sent to Texas households this month that purported to represent a transgender organization has been traced back to a printer whose owners have donated more than $700,000 to Trump, MAGA and GOP PACs over the years, CBS News reports.
Three Z Printing, a company based in Teutopolis, Illinois, is the owner of the bulk-mail permit used to distribute the controversial mailer, which hit mailboxes on the first day of early voting ahead of the November midterms, according to the CBS investigation. Critics maintain the flyer was intended to stir up outrage directed at the transgender community.
Three Z Printing is owned by Bill Zerrusen, whose three sons are also involved in the business. One son, Matthew Zerrusen, who also founded Newman Ministry, a Catholic organization, lives in Flower Mound, just outside Dallas.
Matthew Zerrusen’s Instagram features photos of him with Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk. It also includes a picture of him traveling to Mar-a-Lago with late billionaire Darwin Deason’s son, Doug Deason.
The Current reached out to Three Z Printing for comment but received no response by press time.
The questionable mailer, addressed to students living in the households that received it, linked to resources from the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT). However, the LGBTQ+ group denied sending the mailer, which was distributed to over a million addresses.
The text in the mailer suggested the student “emancipate” themselves from their parents and reach out to a “safe” adult like a therapist or teacher. TENT maintains that it doesn’t advocate emancipation.
Nonetheless, the mailer appeared to rile up conservatives, seemingly in a bid to boost Republican turnout in the midterm elections.
Jon Bonck, Republican candidate for Texas’ 38th Congressional District, called the mailer “disgusting and evil” in a social media post
“The radical left is trying to brainwash Texan children and unravel the basic framework of our society,” Bonck’s tweet said.
The mailer was initially traced back to a Wyoming LLC called the Texas Transgender Student Union, which was formed in September, according to reporting by the Texas Observer’s Steven Monacelli.
In a tweet, Monacelli stated that the address used in the LLC’s articles of organization is a known shell company location, and the papers were filed by an agent known to conceal the identities of the owners of the companies it registers.
The registered agent company is associated with more than 300,000 LLCs, according to CBS News’ reporting.
The Texas Tribune also traced the mailer ID to a Maryland-based mail tracking company called SnailWorks.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has paid Snailworks a total of $57,300 for “list rental” over the past two years, according to FEC reports.
However, CBS News further traced the bulk mail permit back to a printing license held by Three Z Printing. As of press time, it’s unclear whether the Zerrusens were aware of the nature of the mailer or whether they were aware of their bulk mail permit being used to distribute it.
FEC filings show that Matt Zerrusen and the Zerrusen family are ardent GOP supporters, having donated over $700,000 to Donald Trump, MAGA and GOP PACs.
Bill Zerrusen’s largest donations include $125,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in 2024 and $244,600 to Trump Victory between 2018 and 2020. Matt Zerrusen’s largest donations include a $70,000 contribution to the Trump 47 Committee in 2024.
Collectively, the family has also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee.
An investigation into the mailer is currently underway. TENT has filed a petition with a Travis County judge to discover who is behind the mailer in preparation for filing a lawsuit over the unauthorized use of its identity.
According to the petition, the author of the mailer “co-opted TENT’s name, materials (including photographs), branding and website without TENT’s knowledge or consent, violating state law.”
“On the eve of the hotly contested 2026 midterm election, in which transgender people have been repeatedly scapegoated by large political donors seeking partisan gain, someone impersonating TENT sent thousands of unsolicited text messages and a professionally-printed mailer to Texans around the state, including to Travis County residents, apparently spending millions of dollars to do so,” the petition says.
TENT argues that it was threatened by the right-wing backlash to the fake mailers and texts.
“The damage to TENT has been immediate and severe, threatening the safety of TENT’s
leadership and the very existence of its organization,” the lawsuit says. “TENT has met an onslaught of hate and violent threats through its social media and email channels, and that volume has only grown since the Mailer began arriving in voters’ homes shortly after the Messages hit voters’ phones.”
The petition also names Infobip, a Croatian IT company, which the petition states allegedly sent the texts to Texans on behalf of a client. The company has declined to name its client, according to the petition.
If the plaintiff files suit, it would ask the court for a temporary restraining order against Infobip and Texas Transgender Student Union LLC and likely seek to recover damages.
TENT also sent a cease-and-desist letter to SnailWorks on Thursday, according to The Advocate.
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