Former President Donald Trump’s political operation has funneled more than $3 million so far this year through a Delaware limited liability company, whose owners are not made public, according to campaign financial records — a strategy that undermines previous attempts reflects to mask exactly how his campaign is spending donor funds. cash.
The money was paid to Launchpad Strategies LLC, a company that appears to have been incorporated in Delaware in November, according to state corporate records, and which lists a post office box in Raleigh, North Carolina, as its address in campaign finance filings. Since its formal incorporation, the company has received $3.1 million in payments from the Trump campaign and an affiliated joint fundraising committee.
The payments combined make the company the second-largest supplier used this year by the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, a financial center for Trump’s fundraising efforts, with contributions then split between the company and other committees based on a formula. In this case, the contributions are shared with the formal campaign and Save America, a committee that has helped pay millions of dollars in Trump’s legal bills.
The joint fundraising committee spent nearly $2.8 million on Launchpad Strategies, according to campaign finance data current through April.
Little is known about Launchpad Strategies LLC, aside from its existence and the millions of dollars it has raised from a presidential campaign.
It has never done other political work for state or federal candidates, federal and state campaign finance disclosures show. The first payment from the Trump operation was made on December 18, just over a month after the company appears to have been incorporated in Delaware.
The company’s website does not provide information about the services it offers or who operates them. A contact page that gives people a place to reach out and ask questions appears inactive, and multiple requests for comment that NBC News tried to send through the site went unanswered.
While the company uses the Raleigh PO Box as its address in federal campaign finance reports, state officials in North Carolina confirmed to NBC News last week that no company with that name is registered in the state.
“We do not have a business entity with that name in our business registration database,” said Liz Proctor, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Secretary of State.
The Trump campaign would not discuss details other than to say it is focused on fundraising.
“This is a digital advertising company focused primarily on our fundraising efforts,” said Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes. “As you note, the FEC documents include their citation in accordance with our reporting requirements.”
Campaign finance watchdog groups say the quasi-anonymous relationship between the company and the campaign raises red flags and reminds them of past attempts by Trump’s campaign to mask how donor money was spent.
“It is concerning to see a company founded just six months ago suddenly receive more than $3.1 million from Donald Trump’s network of political committees, especially since there is virtually no public information about this company.” , said Saurav Ghosh, federal campaign director at the Campaign Legal Center. financial reforms. “Who works there, what services they offer or have provided, and whether Trump’s payments to ‘Launchpad Strategies LLC’ are for bona fide services or are instead actually payments to other vendors merely funneled through a corporate shell.”
The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission after the 2020 election cycle, alleging that Trump’s campaign channeled more than $500 million through a firm called American Made Media Consultants, which it said appeared to be a shell company intended to was to obscure exactly who paid for the campaign.
The FEC deadlocked and the complaint was dismissed.
In April, the Campaign Legal Center also filed an FEC complaint alleging that a network of Trump-affiliated organizations worked with a Republican compliance firm called Red Curve Solutions to “obfuscate the real recipients of a notable drink from Trump’s legal accounts.”
The Campaign Legal Center says pursuing campaign spending transparency is an important part of the federal campaign process.
“Transparency about how political campaigns spend their donors’ money is critical to the integrity of our elections,” Ghosh said. “Voters have the right to know how candidates are spending their money when deciding who to support in November.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
