Feds Finally Crack Down on 2012 Campaign Finance Fraud

Image via Powerline

In 2012, Obama.com—which was run by Robert Roche, an American businessman and Obama fundraiser who lives in Shanghai — raised a boatload of money for Barack Obama’s reelection campaign..

Roche’s China-based media company, Acorn International, runs infomercials on Chinese state television. Obama.com redirects to a specific donation page on BarackObama.com, the official campaign website. Unlike BarackObama.com, Obama.com’s traffic is 68 percent foreign, according to markosweb.com, a traffic-analysis website. According to France-based web analytics site Mustat.com, Obama.com receives over 2,000 visitors every day.

The name Robert W. Roche appears 11 times in the White House visitors log during the Obama administration. Roche also sits on the Obama administration’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, and is a co-chair of Technology for Obama, a fundraising effort. (In an email exchange, Roche declined to discuss his website, or his support for the Obama reelection effort, referring the inquiries to the Obama campaign team. The Obama campaign, in turn, says it has no control over Roche’s website; it also says only 2 percent of the donations associated with Obama.com come from overseas.)

But it isn’t just foreign donations that are a concern. So are fraudulent donations. In the age of digital contributions, fraudsters can deploy so-called robo-donations, computer programs that use false names to spew hundreds of donations a day in small increments, in order to evade reporting requirements.

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This makes it all the more surprising that the Obama campaign does not use a standard security tool, the card verification value (CVV) system—the three- or four-digit number often imprinted on the back of a credit card, whose purpose is to verify that the person executing the purchase (or, in this case, donation) physically possesses the card. The Romney campaign, by contrast, does use the CVV—as has almost every other candidate who has run for president in recent years, from Hillary Clinton in 2008 to Ron Paul this year. (The Obama campaign says it doesn’t use the CVV because it can be an inhibiting factor for some small donors.) Interestingly, the Obama campaign’s online store requires the CVV to purchase items like hats or hoodies (the campaign points out that its merchandise vendor requires the tool).

The Obama Campaign claimed that it was rigorous in its self-regulation effort. “We take great care to make sure that every one of our more than three million donors are eligible to donate and that our fundraising efforts fully comply with all U.S. laws and regulations,” a campaign spokesman told GAI president Peter Schweizer.

But as Schweizer noted, instead of allowing outsiders—the press, the public, good government watchdog groups, or the Federal Election Commission—to independently determine whether everything was on the up and up, the Obama camp instead relied on self-policing combined with a lack of transparency – leaving an opening for foreign and fraudulent donations. In 2012, Obama raised over $1 billion.

Finally,  the feds are looking into massive campaign finance fraud. Just not Obama’s. And actually not all that massive.

See, there’s this guy who is accused of reimbursing “people who he had directed to contribute $20,000” to the campaign of a U.S. Senate candidate.

The accused is conservative author Dinesh D’Souza, the author of books like Illiberal Education, What’s So Great About America, and The End of Racism, and the  the film 2016: Obama’s America, which was based on his book, The Roots of Obama’s Rage.

According to Reuters, D’Souza was accused of “arranging excessive campaign contributions to a candidate for the U.S. Senate.” He is accused of reimbursing “people who he had directed to contribute $20,000” to the campaign of a U.S. Senate candidate who is not named in the indictment. He was also charged on one count of “causing false statements to be made.”

In 2012, federal law “limited primary and general election campaign contributions to $2,500 each, for a total of $5,000, from any individual to any one candidate.”

Preet Bharara, an Obama appointee who is the U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, said, “As we have long said, this Office and the FBI take a zero tolerance approach to corruption of the electoral process.”

An *Obama* appointee who takes “a zero tolerance approach to corruption.” It is to laugh.

D’Souza’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told The Hollywood Reporter that D’Souza “did not act with any corrupt or criminal intent whatsoever… at worst this was an act of misguided friendship by D’Souza.”

Gerald Molen, a co-producer of the 2016 movie, accused the Obama administration of “criminalizing dissent through the selective enforcement of the law.”

As you may remember 2016: Obama’s America became a box office hit in the summer of 2012 – a rare thing for a political documentary. You may also remember –  it wasn’t complimentary of Obama or his vision.

“After we win this election, it’s our turn.  Payback time.  Everyone not with us is against us and they better be ready because we don’t forget. The ones who helped us will be rewarded, the ones who opposed us will get what they deserve. There is going to be hell to pay.  Congress won’t be a problem for us this time. No election to worry about after this is over and we have two judges ready to go.”  – Valerie Jarrett 11/2012 (Allegedly)

Retaliation against political enemies? – check.

Via Ace of Spades HQ: 

Coincidence: Hollywood’s only conservative group is getting close IRS nonprofit scrutiny

Another Coincidence: James O’Keefe Group Being Audited by NY. Again.

Yet Another Coincidence: Dinesh D’Souza Indicted For Election Fraud

Still Another Coincidence: IRS Proposes New 501(c)(4) Rules That Just Happen to Cover Most Tea Party Groups

Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin’s ‘John Doe’ Subpoenas

one more: Obama Admin Accused Of Filing Standard and Poor’s Lawsuit In Retaliation For 2011 US Credit Downgrade

It’s like the night of the long knives – Chicago style.

Congress won’t be a problem for them, this time – check.

Two judges ready to go – check. 

They’re not even being subtle. We are officially living in a Banana Republic, now folks….

And the Stupid Party is  doing what? 

Let this seep in for a few minutes. The entire force of the GOP establishment is being applied towards Obama’s most cherished agenda item for his second term, not towards fighting Obamacare and the debt ceiling. While Americans are concerned about out-of-control government, Obamacare, debt, and jobs, these clowns are concerned about illegal immigrants, foreign lobbies, and special interests. —Daniel Horowitz

Rolling over and playing dead.

Update via Weasel Zippers: 

Keep in mind, D’Souza is facing a maximum sentence of two years in prison. Update: Now I’m hearing $1,000,000 fine from D’Souza plus up to seven years of jail…(I’m guessing his debate with Bill Ayers at Dartsmouth on Jan 30 is now cancelled…)

Let’s look at what happens when you do even more than what Dinesh is alleged to have done, but you’re a Democrat…

From Overlawyered:

The Federal Election Commission has fined an Arkansas law firm for making illegal contributions to John Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign. Tab Turner solicited four $2,000 contributions from his co-workers at Little Rock law firm Turner & Associates in January 2003 and illegally reimbursed them for their contributions using a company credit card, according to the FEC. He also used a company credit card to make an illegal campaign contribution in his own name and to pay for various campaign expenses. Federal law prohibits donors from making contributions in others’ names and prohibits direct corporate contributions to a federal candidate. Edwards for President also agreed to pay a $9,500 fine, and called the commission’s announcement “old news,” reported the AP.

Linked by Doug Ross, thanks!