Complaint alleges GOP illegally funneled money via shell company

An apparent shell company may have unlawfully directed almost $2.6 million to half a dozen political action committees linked to Republicans, according to a left-wing watchdog group.

Ardleigh Impact, the company, made the super PAC donations from February to March of this year from an address in Virginia, Federal Election Commission filings show. However, given the short time span between its October 2023 incorporation in Delaware and transfer of the cash in 2024, as well as the lack of publicly available information about Ardleigh Impact, Campaign Legal Center argued in an FEC complaint on Tuesday that the company likely hasn’t conducted enough business to have generated the funds.

Therefore, the watchdog group argued to the top regulator, Ardleigh Impact violated federal rules by utilizing a “straw donor” scheme that shields the source behind the initial cash.

“Voters have a right to know who is spending money to influence them,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at Campaign Legal Center. “That whole scheme is backed up by federal reporting requirements for candidates and committees. But those reporting requirements aren’t effective if folks can give money in the name of somebody else or in the name of a completely opaque business entity.”

It’s illegal for people to make political donations under false names or under the names of others, according to campaign finance regulations. Shell companies have long been a problem in the political giving space, with three defense contractors in Hawaii being indicted in 2022 for allegedly funneling illegal contributions to boost Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the Washington Post reported.

The influx of corporate cash into super PACs has prompted left-of-center watchdogs to raise concerns frequently over so-called “dark money.” To many Republicans, however, the term “dark money” has been weaponized by Democrats to refer merely to speech they disagree with that benefits the Right.

Under federal law, super PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums. These committees have become mainstays in politics after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision, which held that the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits restrictions on independent expenditures by groups.

This election cycle, 730 companies have given a staggering $181.3 million to super PACs and hybrid PACs, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan campaign finance tracker.

Ardleigh Impact lists a Virginia address in federal records belonging to Michael Goede, an account manager at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and Staci Goede, ex-chief financial officer for the Republican State Leadership Committee — a group working to elect GOP candidates across the United States.

The donations from the corporation were distributed to a group in favor of school voucher programs, a group supporting Republican Tim Sheehy’s Senate bid against Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), and two super PACs that supported Republican Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan’s unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid in the Buckeye State.

Moreover, campaign finance records list donations from Ardleigh Impact to Congressional Leadership Fund, which works to elect House Republicans, and Conservatives for American Excellence, a group that has spent money on trying to unseat GOP members in the hard-right House Freedom Caucus.

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“Straw donor contributions like those alleged here are serious violations of federal campaign finance law that have led to criminal indictments and convictions,” Campaign Legal Center argued in the complaint.

“As explained in one such indictment, the straw donor ban works in tandem with other campaign finance laws to protect the integrity of our electoral system and to ensure that all candidates, campaign committees, federal regulators, and the public are informed of the true sources of money spent to influence federal elections,” the complaint added.