Money Laundering Scheme Exposed: 14 Pro-Clinton Super PACs & Non-Profits Implicated
By Tyler Durden
Created 09/21/2016 - 07:25
[1]
by Tyler Durden [1]
Sep 21, 2016 7:25 AM
This is serious.
- David Brock operates over a dozen pro-Clinton organizations from his office in Washington DC.
- Uncovered records expose a constant flow of money between his organizations.
- Brock’s unregistered Professional Solicitor, the Bonner Group, receives a 12.5% cut every time money is moved.
There’s a reason why David Brock chooses to house an unregistered Professional Solicitor [5] in his office to raise money for his conglomerate of Super PACs and non-profits.
Professional Solicitors are required to disclose their active solicitation contracts. Brock wants his unregistered solicitor, the Bonner Group, to keep their client list hidden for a very specific reason.
David Brock is laundering money
David Brock has 7 non-profits, 3 Super PACs, one 527-committee, one LLC, one joint fundraising committee, and one unregistered solicitor crammed into his office in Washington DC [6].
Uncovered records expose a constant flow of money between these organizations.
The Bonner Group, his professional solicitor, works off a commission. Every time money gets passed around, Bonner receives a 12.5% cut.
Follow the money
Nonprofits are required to disclose who they give cash grants to.
But they aren’t required to disclose who gave them cash grants.
This weak system of one way verification is being abused by Brock. He’s been cycling money between his organizations for years, and the Bonner Group’s 12.5% commission gets triggered after every pass.
In 2014, Media Matters for America [7] raised $10,021,188.
The Bonner Group was credited for raising these funds. Media Matters paid them a $1,147,882 commission.
That same year, Media Matters gave a $930,000 cash grant to David Brock’s Franklin Education Forum [8], an organization that shares office space with Media Matters.
In 2014, the Franklin Education Forum reported $994,000 in total contributions. 93.6% of that total came from Media Matters!
Surprisingly, though, the Franklin Education Forum gave full credit to Bonner for raising that money. They paid the fundraiser a $124,250 commission in 2014!
Notice what happened?
- David Brock’s Media Matters gave a $930,000 cash grant to David Brock’s Franklin Education Forum
- David Brock’s Franklin Education Forum credited the Bonner Group for raising those funds, triggering the 12.5% commission
- David Brock paid the Bonner Group a $124,250 commission to solicit a cash grant … from himself!
It doesn’t stop there
After the Franklin Education Forum retained $869,750, they sent a $816,224 cash grant to David Brock’s The Franklin Forum:
Note: The ‘Franklin Education Forum’ is a 501(c)3, and ‘The Franklin Forum’ is a 501(c)4. They are not the same company.
Since The Franklin Forum 501(c)4 paid Bonner a commission in 2013 [9], it’s safe to assume fundraiser received a $102,028 commission in 2014. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell for sure. They still haven’t filed their taxes for 2014!
Let’s recap
Say, for example, you donate $1,062,857 to Media Matters for America. This is how David Brock would have used your charitable donation in 2014:
- Media Matters would receive your $1,062,857 donation
- The Bonner Group would earn a $132,857 commission
- Media Matters would retain $930,000
- Next, Media Matters would give what’s left of your entire donation, $930,000, to the Franklin Education Forum
- The Bonner Group would ‘earn’ a $116,250 commission
- The Franklin Education Forum would retain $813,750
- The Franklin Education Forum would then forward the remaining $813,750 to The Franklin Forum
- The Bonner Group would ‘earn’ a $101,718 commission
- The Franklin Forum would retain $712,031
In the end, Brock’s solicitor would have pocketed $350,825, almost a third of your initial donation! That’s a far cry from the advertised 12.5% commission.
As bizarre as that scenario may sound, this is exactly what David Brock did in 2014.
How can we be sure this is intentional?
David Brock is the Chairman for each of these organizations! How could he not know what’s going on?
He’s a hands-on Chairman. According to their tax returns, Brock allocates time, weekly, to his organizations:
- Media Matters: 31.50 hours per week
- Franklin Education Forum: 3 hours per week
- The Franklin Forum: 1 hour per week
Furthermore, the New York Times [10] reports that David Brock shares a summer rental in the Hamptons with Mary Pat Bonner, the President of the Bonner Group!
David Brock will have a hard time claiming ignorance on this. These transfers are intentional. He vacations with his solicitor. Case closed.
Still not convinced?
David Brock didn’t even bother to give his organizations different phone numbers. They all share the same phone number!
What if…?
We even located the Bonner Group’s solicitation agreement [11] with Media Matters on Florida’s Gift Givers’ Guide [12]. Clarification on their commission can be found on page 2:
In English: Contractually, David Brock has the option to exclude certain contributions from triggering the commission. In spite of this option, he intentionally chooses to trigger the 12.5% commission for money grants between his organizations.
Note: Yes, we are making the assumption that all of Brock’s organizations have the same solicitation agreement with the Bonner Group. Given that his organizations share the same address, board members, and telephone number, we feel it’s safe to assume they also share the same solicitation agreement.
This barely scratches the surface
Utilizing public facing tax returns, along with records submitted to the FEC, we mapped out all the significant money transfers from 2014 that took place in Brock’s office:
This is all from just one year! No further commentary required.
We understand this may be hard to believe. We first came across this in July, and are still having a hard time wrapping our heads around it.
All of the data referenced in this article originated from publicly accessible sources. Check for yourself – we provided links to the source material in our article [6] exposing the organizations operating in Brock’s office, This data has been sitting out in the open, gathering dust for years!
Summary
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
We’ve spent months trying to find some sort of loophole to justify this activity. But there aren’t any loopholes. David Brock has something to hide. Just last week, The Daily Caller [13] reported the following:
“Brock’s former long-time live-in boyfriend William Grey (whom Brock has thanked in several of his books) threatened to go to the IRS with damaging information about how Brock was running his Media Matters empire. What did Brock do? He paid Grey $850,000 [14] to keep quiet. Brock reportedly had to sell his home in Rehoboth, Delaware to come up with the money. This certainly seems to indicate that Brock was terrified about what the authorities would uncover.”
Adding to this, Fox News [15] reported the following:
“Grey accused Brock of “financial malfeasance” and threatened to undermine Brock’s fundraising efforts.
“Next step is I contact all your donors and the IRS,” Grey wrote in an email dated May 19, 2010. “This is going to stink for you if you do not resolve this now.””
We believe that the information presented in this article is what has Brock so terrified. We feel confident in saying, with close to absolute certainty, that David Brock is laundering money through his Media Matters conglomerate.
Look at the argument we’ve been making on The Citizens Audit:
- The 14 organizations stuffed into Brock’s office in Washington DC [6]
- The fraudulent tax returns filed by Media Matters for America [16]
- The dirty money flowing into the conglomerate via his unregistered solicitor, the Bonner Group [5]
- The records exposed and analyzed in this article
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