Christmas Came Early! There's FINALLY an FEC Complaint about Hillary Victory Fund!

Here's the filing (pdf): https://www.committeetodefendthepresident.com/documents/FEC_Complaint/20...

Hillary Clinton campaign, DNC accused of 'corrupt' money scheme in new FEC complaint

Did Clinton break the law with 'takeover' of DNC?
One lawyer says the deal between the Clinton campaign and the DNC in August of 2015 - which essentially turned over control of the DNC to the Clinton campaign - was in violation of federal campaign finance law. #Tucker

The Committee to Defend the President, a political action committee, filed its complaint with the FEC on Monday with the allegations that the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF) solicited cash from big-name donors, including Calvin Klein and “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane -- money that was allegedly sent through state chapters and back to the DNC before ending up with the Clinton campaign.

Officials with the committee said their filing was spurred by their own analysis of FEC reports, where they said they discovered the HVF either never transferred the money to state chapters and back to the DNC, or did so without the state chapters having actual control.

Snip

In its complaint, the CDP alleges that about $84 million was funneled illegally from the DNC through state party chapters and back into the war chest of the Clinton campaign. “Based on publicly available FEC records, repeatedly throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, HVF would purportedly transfer funds to its constituent political committees, which included between 34 and 40 state parties,” reads a passage from a copy of the complaint reviewed by Fox News. “On the very same day each of these transfers supposedly occurred, or occasionally the very next day, every single one of those state parties purportedly contributed all of those funds to the DNC.”

My quibble with the above para is only that HVF would have said the money was transferred, which they will claim that it was fully lawful to make unlimited transfers of all HVF funds between the signers of HVF according to their read of McCutcheon v. FEC.

According to CDP counsel Dan Backer:

“It’s not entirely clear if they transferred the money to the state parties to begin with, and if they never had control of the money, it’s not a contribution. It’s an earmark. If the money is in control of the candidate, then it is a contribution to them.”

Here's what I know about that - they DID transfer money into accounts which were in the names of the state parties. But all those accounts were in the same bank as other HVF funds, and all the transfers were done by a Hillary For America staffer who was the treasurer of HVF, so he may have a point. The state parties, themselves, were only given a tiny sliver of the money which came through those accounts.

Get this: If I'm reading the Fox article correctly, this Backer guy is the same attorney who originally filed Shaun McCutcheon's case against the FEC. Do other people read that this way?

The article quotes Brazile's book about this:

“Individuals who had maxed out their $2,700 contribution limit to the campaign could write an additional check for $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund—that figure represented $10,000 to each of the 32 states’ parties who were part of the Victory Fund agreement—$320,000—and $33,400 to the DNC...” The money would be deposited in the states first, and transferred to the DNC shortly after that. Money in the battleground states usually stayed in that state, but all the other states funneled that money directly to the DNC, which quickly transferred the money to [Clinton campaign headquarters in] Brooklyn.”

What y'all already know about the funds is that the contract HFA had with the DNC had a secret add-on which said Clinton would pay off DNC debt in exchange for being able to make new hire decisions for the DNC and to approve all material released on all Dem candidates (#NotRiggedMyAss), and that in prior election years, Joint Fundraising Agreements were only entered into AFTER there was a nominee. HVF contracts were signed in August of 2015 by the CEOs of the state parties, they were never on the docket of the State Democratic Executive Committees who theoretically run the state parties.

And in case anyone ever tells you 'Bernie had one too'? Well, not really. If you look at the FEC filing, the person listed as treasurer is a DNC staffer. The DNC created an account for him and threw $1000 in to open the account, but Bernie was running a people-powered campaign and IF he ever signed a contract, he clearly never had any use for this sort of vehicle.

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divineorder's picture

so I don't have to give them a click?

Search of News.Google yielded Washington Beacon. Nah.

Thanks for the post though, interesting, as this [edit: Victory Fund shenanigans] was brought up last year.
Some wished aloud at the time that Sanders campaign would file with the FEC. Didn't happen AFAIK.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Wink's picture

@divineorder

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

MsGrin's picture

@divineorder https://www.americanewshub.com/2017/12/20/84-million-new-fec-complaint-c...

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

divineorder's picture

@MsGrin done any original reporting on this.

That link you found is all based on the work by Fox, which I have no real reason to doubt .

Wonder if The Intercept or someone else will cover this......

Again, thanks for the essay.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

divineorder's picture

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

MsGrin's picture

@divineorder it was added later - had not yet heard back from the atty. Took me awhile to soak it all in. For the most part, he's got good shit. I suspect, however, he may end up undoing himself - if he wins on this FEC filing, it may end up restricting contributions (i.e. reversing some of McCutcheon).

I can't really report publicly on my reaction to his filing.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Lookout's picture

for keeping us current on the events.

The DNC stuff smells but not as bad as the foundation issues. I suspect we won't ever see that corrupt fake foundation revealed...too many others in the stew. I think the same about T-rump and the Russians. No election rigging...All he did was launder oligarchs dirty money with real estate sales...and there are too many others using that game to let the sheeple know.

Maybe the Shill's dirty DNC doings will see the light of day? We can hope.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout's picture

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

divineorder's picture

@Lookout

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Amanda Matthews's picture

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Alligator Ed's picture

I suppose the Federal judge in the Beck's case, Zloch, is allowing that case to proceed once a "legitimate class" has been assembled. Certainly the legalities of this meet the definition of nonsense: a participant in the class must have read the DNC by-laws AND personally heard DWS or other DNC person say the primary would be fair and square, before that participant could be considered in the class.

This new suit may have more funds behind it given that it is now headed by a former vanquisher of the FEC in McCutcheon. Of course the funds transferred to/from DNC are substantially less than the $22M (or more) stolen in Bernie's case.

P.S.: good to see you posting again.

Smile

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Centaurea's picture

@Alligator Ed

In August 2017, the judge in the DNC Fraud lawsuit granted the DNC's motion to dismiss the case, on procedural grounds. The plaintiffs' lawyers (the Becks) appealed Judge Zloch's order to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. As of yet, the appellate court has not issued a decision regarding the appeal.

In the meantime, Jared Beck is writing a book about the 2016 Democratic primary. He's signed a contract with a publisher. Last I heard, they're expecting the book to come out in early 2018.

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

MsGrin's picture

@Centaurea They got the new filing in just hours before whichever hurricane it was hit Florida (Irma?)

If they get any level of deposing in, their case could very well grow legs.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Centaurea's picture

@MsGrin

It wasn't a new filing. The Becks had the option of filing a new lawsuit, but they chose not to do that. Instead, they decided to appeal the judge's order that dismissed the original lawsuit.

What the Becks filed right before the hurricane hit was the Notice of Appeal on behalf of the plaintiffs.

Until the Court of Appeals rules on the Becks' appeal, nothing further can happen in the lawsuit.

If the Becks win their appeal, the lawsuit can proceed, including discovery.

If their appeal is denied, the original lawsuit will be dead, unless the Becks decide to appeal to SCOTUS. Or, at that point, as an alternative they could file a new lawsuit.

For more information here's the diary I wrote at that time:

https://caucus99percent.com/content/notice-appeal-filed-dnc-fraud-lawsuit

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

MsGrin's picture

@Centaurea Not an attorney, I misspoke. Yes, 'the filing' was referencing the appeal, which to my non-legally trained mind is a new court and a start over. Case is not yet dead.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

MsGrin's picture

@Alligator Ed @Alligator Ed Actually, it's $80m he's describing in his filing.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Alligator Ed's picture

@MsGrin I am notoriously bad with numbers and can only count to 22.

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snoopydawg's picture

This is just one of the issues from the primary that needs to be investigated. The number of people who were kicked off the voting rolls, the exit polls that didn't line up with the vote tallies, the number of coin flips that went to Hillary.

The Russian interference plot was created by her and the FBI to discredit and neutralize Trump when they took over the Steele dossier. I'm hoping that Trump does sue his ass for defamation because of the Golden Showers part of it.

People keep saying that Hillary was just one of the nine secretaries that signed off on the uranium deal. That may be, but she was the only one that was compensated for it when her fraudantion received millions in donations. Did the spouses of the other secretaries also get paid to give a speech to Russian businessmen or was Bill the only one? Why can't people see how this looks in regards to all the other pay for play that they did while she was Secretarie of State? A blind person can see this!

Agree that it's good to hear from you MsGrin Smile

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orlbucfan's picture

Normally, I see anything coming from P(F)OX "News," I tune out. However, I worked Bernie's campaign so had a front row seat to the incompetent crooked crap $hrill was pulling. It was beyond ridiculous how poorly her campaign was run. You'd think a supposedly smart, Ivy League educated lawyer would learn after the debacle that was her 2008 campaign. You. Would. Be. Wrong. Rec'd!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Really just would like to add that if anyone missed this back when and is seeking verification, (some for some reason or another and another being uncertain of Fox and seeking multiple sources,) this was covered repeatedly at the time, although somehow, oddly enough, not in the Clinton-supporting corporate mainstream media, as far as I recall...

https://www.alternet.org/election-2016/how-scotus-decision-best-describe...

Election 2016
Watch: Young Turks Reveals How the DNC and 33 States Used Loopholes to Funnel Millions Into the 'Hillary Victory Fund'
$26 million went into the Clinton campaign before a single vote was cast.
By Alexandra Rosenmann / AlterNet
April 5, 2016, 3:21 AM GMT

...According to Counterpunch and Cenk Uygur, the host of Young Turks, the DNC and different states' Democratic parties have long been funneling money into Hillary Clinton’s campaign, otherwise known as "laundering by the millions." Counterpunch explains:

In August 2015, at the Democratic Party convention in Minneapolis, 33 democratic state parties made deals with the Hillary Clinton campaign and a joint fundraising entity called the Hillary Victory Fund. The deal allowed many of her core billionaire and inner circle individual donors to run the maximum amounts of money allowed through those state parties to the Hillary Victory Fund in New York and the DNC in Washington.

No one had cast a single vote yet in the Democratic primary. “Not only had we not decided who the Democratic nominee was in August of 2015, we still haven’t decided,” Cenk Uygur pointed out on Monday. “But back then, the DNC already made their decision.” ...

...“McCutcheon was a terrible decision," Uygur explained, adding that, "it put Citizens United on steroids, and said, ‘you can give even more money as long as you give it to the party, and then in this case they figured, ‘I got it, there’s still caps on how much an individual can give to Hillary Clinton directly but what if we funnel it through the party. And we funnel it through the state democratic parties.' Bingo." ...

... "With this scheme, the Hillary Victory Fund raised over $26 million for the Clinton campaign by the end of 2015. [And] not only did Hillary’s multi-millionaire and billionaire supporters get to bypass individual campaign donation limits to state parties by using several state parties apparatus, but the Clinton campaign got the added bonus of buying that state’s superdelegates with the promise of contributions to that Democratic organization’s re-election fund," Counterpunch concluded, eliminating any doubt as to where the DNC stands. ...

(This detail-packed jewel following most especially needs to be read in full at source, if at all possible.)

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/clinton-fundraising-leaves-little...

Clinton fundraising leaves little for state parties

The Democratic front-runner says she's raising big checks to help state committees, but they've gotten to keep only 1 percent of the $60 million raised.

By KENNETH P. VOGEL and ISAAC ARNSDORF

05/02/2016 05:21 AM EDT

...The venture, the Hillary Victory Fund, is a so-called joint fundraising committee comprised of Clinton’s presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee and 32 state party committees. The setup allows Clinton to solicit checks of $350,000 or more from her super-rich supporters at extravagant fundraisers including a dinner at George Clooney’s house and a concert at Radio City Music Hall featuring Katy Perry and Elton John.

The victory fund has transferred $3.8 million to the state parties, but almost all of that cash ($3.3 million, or 88 percent) was quickly transferred to the DNC, usually within a day or two, by the Clinton staffer who controls the committee, POLITICO’s analysis of the FEC records found.

By contrast, the victory fund has transferred $15.4 million to Clinton’s campaign and $5.7 million to the DNC, which will work closely with Clinton’s campaign if and when she becomes the party’s nominee. And most of the $23.3 million spent directly by the victory fund has gone toward expenses that appear to have directly benefited Clinton’s campaign, including $2.8 million for “salary and overhead” and $8.6 million for web advertising that mostly looks indistinguishable from Clinton campaign ads and that has helped Clinton build a network of small donors who will be critical in a general election expected to cost each side well in excess of $1 billion.

The arrangement has sparked concerns among campaign finance watchdogs and allies of Clinton’s Democratic rival Bernie Sanders. They see it as a circumvention of campaign contribution limits by a national party apparatus intent on doing whatever it takes to help Clinton defeat Sanders during the party’s primary, and then win the White House.

But it is perhaps more notable that the arrangement has prompted concerns among some participating state party officials and their allies. They grumble privately that Clinton is merely using them to subsidize her own operation, while her allies overstate her support for their parties and knock Sanders for not doing enough to help the party.

“It’s a one-sided benefit,” said an official with one participating state party. The official, like those with several other state parties, declined to talk about the arrangement on the record for fear of drawing the ire of the DNC and the Clinton campaign. ...

This next one gives a lengthy series of bullet point, and further gives an idea of the fact that this was established at the time.
https://concisepolitics.com/2016/06/19/hillary-bought-33-states-super-de...

HILLARY BOUGHT 33 STATES’ SUPER-DELEGATES IN COMPLEX SCAM WITH DNC
June 19, 2016 by concisepolitics
HILLARY BOUGHT 33 STATES’ SUPER-DELEGATES IN COMPLEX SCAM WITH DNC
Hillary Clinton Bought Elections in 33 States = Collusion with DNC = Montana was one of those states. It sold itself for $64,100 = Super Delegates now defying democracy REFUSE to change their votes to Sanders even when Sanders had overwhelming victories in their states.

“How Hillary Clinton Bought the Loyalty of 33 State Democratic Parties” by Margot Kidder, April 1, 2016

Click for Source Article on CounterPunch

Above followed by said bullet-points and quite interesting. But I suspect that even just these few examples demonstrate that this scam has been long since proven to be factual.

Edit: lol, what looked like lengthy bullet-points on the lay-out my computer provided the first time I went into the above article are actually paragraphs, lol. Hoping my brother will manage the better-going over he was going to do on my system when he came out but had to leave it for the nonce, due to time constraints... and of course it was behaving relatively normally while he was here... Damn Murphy, and his little Law, too!

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

MsGrin's picture

@Ellen North I'm still partial to Margot Kidder's reporting when our heads were still spinning from the Ides of March eviction: https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/01/how-hillary-clinton-bought-the-l...

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member