The revelation that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and affiliated Political Action Committees (PACs) have potentially masked millions of dollars in legal fee payments has led to a formal complaint.
The Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a nonprofit watchdog, lodged a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) after a report emerged detailing how Trump’s campaign and four PACs channeled legal payments through Red Curve Solutions, a GOP compliance firm, without fully disclosing the final beneficiaries. Such obfuscation could be seen as a violation of federal reporting rules.
The complaint alleges that the Trump committees reimbursed Red Curve Solutions over $7.2 million for advanced legal costs without properly itemizing the transactions, effectively making Red Curve the largest recipient of Trump’s legal spending over the past year. CLC’s director of federal reform, Saurav Ghosh, stating, “Available information points to the conclusion that Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and other Trump-affiliated committees violated federal law by obscuring who they paid for legal services and how much they paid for those services.”
Given Trump’s considerable legal expenses during this election cycle, which Ghosh described as “unprecedented.” He emphasized, “Voters have a right to know exactly how these Trump-affiliated committees are spending their money.”
Red Curve, a company with no history of providing legal services and is managed by Bradley Crate—who also serves as treasurer for the Trump campaign and the four other committees.
In addition to transparency concerns, the complaint also questions whether the arrangement entails corporate contributions from Red Curve to the campaign, which is prohibited under federal law. As noted in the complaint, FEC rules require campaigns to disclose not just the entity being reimbursed but also the underlying vendors, a stipulation seemingly breached in this scenario.
Trump, who is the first US president to go on trial, is currently on trial accused of 34 felony counts. Trump denies both the affair and all the charges against him. He is also involved in two other criminal cases related to his alleged attempts to conspire to overturn the result of the 2020 election and another case related to retaining classified documents.
Relevant articles:
– New Complaint Alleges Trump Campaign Hid Millions in Lawyer Payments, thedailybeast.com, 04/25/2024
– Trump campaign accused of breaking federal law by hiding millions in legal payments, The Independent, Thu, 25 Apr 2024 12:15:56 GMT
– Trump could avoid trial this year on 2020 election charges. Is the hush money case a worthy proxy?, The Associated Press, Tue, 23 Apr 2024 12:43:00 GMT
– Breaking down the legal case at the center of the political universe : Consider This from NPR, NPR, Mon, 22 Apr 2024 22:19:50 GMT
– Takeaways from the Trump hush money trial: Opening statements and the first witness, CNN, Mon, 22 Apr 2024 19:43:00 GMT