[EL] An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct

Fri Jan 19 09:23:57 PST 2018

Right, which is why I don't think LLCs should be able to make campaign
contributions.

On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 12:19 PM, Sean Parnell <
sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org> wrote:

> And the same goes for the public, of course, who would only see “We’re
> Totally Not The Russians LLC” listed on whatever form of disclosure is
> envisioned by Ciara and others in the “reform” community.
>
>
>
> Sean
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Jeff Hauser [mailto:jeffhauser at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Friday, January 19, 2018 12:11 PM
> *To:* Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>
> *Cc:* Sean Parnell <sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org>; Election Law
> Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [EL] An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports
> about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct
>
>
>
> Michael Cohen has been alleged by the Wall Street Journal to create an LLC
> to pay off an actress aleged to have an affair with Trump:
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyer-used-
> private-company-pseudonyms-to-pay-porn-star-stormy-daniels-
> 1516315731?utm_source=The+Point+with+Chris+Cillizza+Alerts&utm_campaign=
> d827904afa-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_19&utm_medium=email&
> utm_term=0_ada7c7ac0a-d827904afa-83775533
>
>
>
> If Russians created shell companies in Delaware to give money to the NRA,
> all the IRS would see is "Delaware LLC."
>
>
>
> (the NRA would presumably make inquiries about any unexpected
> contributions, and I doubt they lack information on who is giving them big
> money)
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 11:59 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:
>
> Has the NRA issued any public statements denying the receipt of money from
> Russian government sources/sources allied with Russian government which
> were used by its c4 for election-related activity?
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *Sean Parnell <sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org>
> *Date: *Friday, January 19, 2018 at 8:55 AM
> *To: *Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>, Election Law Listserv <
> law-election at uci.edu>
> *Subject: *re: An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about
> Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct
>
>
>
> I wanted to clear up what some might mistakenly infer from the piece by
> Ciara Torres-Spelliscy linked to below concerning the latest speculation
> regarding foreign money, Donald Trump, and those pesky Russians (hold on a
> sec, it appears the 1980’s are calling and wish to talk to me about
> something). She writes:
>
> *For many years now, good-government groups and campaign finance experts
> have warned that illegal foreign funds could be hiding in that dark money.*
>
> *That’s because, in federal races, political spenders that go dark are
> exploiting a loophole between the campaign finance system overseen by the
> FEC, which typically insists on that all donors to campaigns identify
> themselves, and charities the Internal Revenue Service allows to collect
> funds donated anonymously.*
>
> Three things:
>
>    1. The National Rifle Association is not a “charity,” at least as
>    defined by the IRS. It’s a 501c4 “social welfare” organization (it does
>    have an associated foundation, which is a 501c3, but I don’t believe it’s
>    alleged that this entity was funding any political ads, let alone
>    Russian-funded ads).
>    2. While the NRA and other 501c organizations do not reveal donors to
>    the public, they do reveal them to the IRS (or at least are required to) on
>    Schedule B. Presumably, if there is a concern that the NRA took in millions
>    of dollars from Russian sources (whether state or “private” to the extent
>    there’s any distinction in Russia), it should be relatively easy for the
>    FBI to get the information from the IRS (I’m not sure if it requires a
>    subpoena or not in this particular instance, but law enforcement is able to
>    get confidential tax records). I’d guess that someone at the NRA handed a
>    few million dollars by a Putin pal would have realized this and handed it
>    back, if such a highly-speculative transaction occurred, but then there are
>    some imprudent people out there so who knows?
>    3. Anonymous contributions to charities are hardly a “loophole,” it is
>    in fact a practice with a long and deeply ingrained history in
>    philanthropy, praised in the Gospel of Matthew 6:1 – 6:4 and also by Seneca
>    the Younger, among others. I’ve written an overview of anonymous charitable
>    giving, published last year, if anyone is interested: http://www.
>    philanthropyroundtable.org/file_uploads/Protecting_Donor_Privacy.pdf
>    <http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/file_uploads/Protecting_Donor_Privacy.pdf>
>
> Best,
>
> Sean Parnell
>
> Vice President of Public Policy, The Philanthropy Roundtable
>
> 1120 20th Street NW, Suite 550
> <https://maps.google.com/?q=1120+20th+Street+NW,+Suite+550&entry=gmail&source=g>
> South
>
> Washington, DC  20036
>
> (202) 600-7883 (direct)
>
> (571) 289-1374 (mobile)
>
> sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *“An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money
> going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct”
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96992>*
>
> Posted on January 19, 2018 7:16 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=96992>
>  by *Rick Hasen* <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> Ciara Torres-Spelliscy
> <http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/insidious-foreign-dark-money-threat-article-1.3765048> NYDN
> oped.
>
>
> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D96992&title=%E2%80%9CAn%20insidious%20foreign%20dark%20money%20threat%3A%20New%20reports%20about%20Russian%20money%20going%20to%20the%20NRA%20could%20prove%20watchdogs%E2%80%99%20fears%20correct%E2%80%9D>
>
> Posted in *campaign finance*
> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D96992&title=%E2%80%9CAn%20insidious%20foreign%20dark%20money%20threat%3A%20New%20reports%20about%20Russian%20money%20going%20to%20the%20NRA%20could%20prove%20watchdogs%E2%80%99%20fears%20correct%E2%80%9D>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> *Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu*
> *https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election*
> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D96992&title=%E2%80%9CAn%20insidious%20foreign%20dark%20money%20threat%3A%20New%20reports%20about%20Russian%20money%20going%20to%20the%20NRA%20could%20prove%20watchdogs%E2%80%99%20fears%20correct%E2%80%9D>
>
>
> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D96992&title=%E2%80%9CAn%20insidious%20foreign%20dark%20money%20threat%3A%20New%20reports%20about%20Russian%20money%20going%20to%20the%20NRA%20could%20prove%20watchdogs%E2%80%99%20fears%20correct%E2%80%9D>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20180119/50ad77cc/attachment.html>