A pro-Trump political action committee filed a complaint in December with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Hillary Clinton’s campaign laundered $84 million in contributions from big-name donors, such as Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, and designer Calvin Klein.
The complaint outlines a money-laundering scheme that violated multiple campaign finance laws — specifically, laws related to limits on individual contributions. This week, the complaint has escalated with a related lawsuit to force the FEC to take up the case.
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And the HVF promotional materials described the fund broadly, as a way to “support Hillary Clinton and Democrats up and down the ticket.” They did not appear to disclose that almost all funds would be channeled directly into Clinton’s personal campaign, leaving those “Democrats up and down the ticket” in the cold. Unwitting contributors responding to these ads could not have known their funds would be funneled unlawfully to cause them to exceed their contribution limits — a defense to the willful and knowing elements of the law. Other defenses may exist as well.
Then again, Backer points to reasons that Clinton’s contributors could also be more culpable than Obama’s: “Does Calvin Klein truly care about the Alaska Democratic Party?” he asks. “Or was he trying to curry favor from Hillary Clinton? Which one seems more plausible?”