Is the phrase "albeit the fact that..." correct?

Question

I recently came across the phrase albeit the fact in a book I was reading, and, as a professional editor, I was immediately struck by how ungrammatical it sounded to me. So I searched Google Books and found a shocking number of published works containing this phrase — mostly government and scientific reports — which led me to think that it's primarily being used by people who want/need to sound intelligent, but don't really know how to use albeit. I searched all the trusted dictionaries and couldn't find one instance of this phrase, and the more I replay it, the worse it sounds. Am I missing something?

Here's an example from The Ellsworth American:

On the matter of Mr. Thomas’s scathing remarks concerning the managing editor of The Ellsworth American, first of all, let it be said that the reputation of the American speaks for itself. Beyond its having been acclaimed several times over as the best weekly publication in Maine, it ranks the best source for balanced political reporting of any publication in the state, albeit the fact that its readership and contributors to letters to the editor and opinion pieces are generally of a liberal-progressive mindset. So be it, but it’s nice to see the conservative point of view come through once in a while.

Answer 1

I think this is a misuse of "albeit". A typical use is:

He was making progress, albeit rather slowly.

This essentially means the same thing as

He was making progress rather slowly.

but emphasizes that the slowness is unexpected.

In your quoted phrase, they seem to be using "albeit" as a synonym for "despite". And they could dispense with clumsy "the fact that" phrase entirely if they used "even though".

Answer 2

It's not strictly speaking incorrect. However, I tend to agree with your belief that it's "primarily being used by people who want/need to sound intelligent" as there are more efficient and less clumsy ways of stating the same idea; i.e., replace "albeit the fact that" with "although".