Why Clinton’s Donors May Be Investigated In $84 Million Money Laundering Scheme

What ?? Did they use the wrong soap ?

The shrewd individuals running the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF) figured out these campaign mathematics, and in 2016 appeared to legally solicit up to $356,100 from Clinton’s supporters at extravagant fundraisers, such as a dinner at George Clooney’s house and a concert featuring Elton John. Compare this to the $2,700 limit the government sets per individual contributor in a general election. How did they do it? HVF figured out how to maximize the permissible contribution numbers by calling themselves a “joint fundraising committee” comprised of Clinton’s campaign, the DNC, and 32 state party committees.

Fast-forward and the HVF is accused of violating campaign contribution limits and engaging in corruption estimated at $84 million. But wasn’t their math correct? Yes, it was, but the clever mathematics may in fact have been a guise for what was really happening, according to the complaint. HVF would receive money from individuals under the guise of benefiting the Democratic party as a whole, but instead would quietly distribute the funds almost in entirety to benefit the Clinton campaign.

By transferring money back and forth between committees and eventually filtering it into the Clinton campaign, the HVF essentially laundered funds, says Dan Backer, the attorney who filed the complaint and lawsuit. This practice was deemed illegal in 2014 when Backer won a landmark campaign finance case in the Supreme Court. (As an aside, it is precisely the Supreme Court decision in Backer’s 2014 case McCutcheon v. FEC that paved the way for the large contribution opportunities that HVF capitalized upon.)