Without calling out the demons (and examples) of past elections, we would like to explore the topic of money laundering in the campaign election cycle. Criminals that launder money work through a very similar process that campaign contributors work through when they work to donate large sums of money to various campaigns. Its not a coincidence that both activities are illegal either!
This is going to be the first part in a series of articles exploring Campaign Contributions in the current election cycle. This is likely to be one of the most expensive election cycles in the history of the United States and with big money comes big opportunities for corruption and corrupters seeking influence over the process and influence over the future office holders.
Commonalities between Money Laundering and Campaign Contribution Fraud
The motivation to launder money and the motivation to skirt or break campaign contribution laws are very similar. Money laundering has the goal of taking large sums of illegally gotten gains (money) and transferring it and converting it in a way that hides the money’s illegal sources. The US Federal government, the FBI and even Homeland Security watch for this and have a number of tools at their disposal. Plus, they have a lot of practice at putting two and two together as they chase the criminal element 24/7/365.
The Federal Election Committee (FEC) however does not quite have the expertise, the people power, nor the legislative clout to track campaign contributions and this in the past has enabled elected officials to receive large contributions from big donors in the form of smaller contributions split up amongst what appears to be many donors. This has taken the form of employers providing bonuses to their employees who are then supposed to pass on that bonus to a political campaign. We have seen money given by foreign governments, their agents, or shady people with ties to the same, giving money to nuns, monks, religious organizations, even poor people and immigrants pressured into helping a political campaign that will never help them in any form or fashion.
Electronic Payment Processes into the Election Process Enabling Election Fraud and Money Laundering
A little thing came along in 2004 however that has turned the election process and fund raising in particular inside out. Its the internet and the communication medium that used to be famous for connecting people to cheap flights can now enable contributors to funnel money to a candidate through hundreds if not thousands of donors with just a few clicks and in ways that are not tracked and can easily be subverted.
There are many many good reasons why Americans should be and in many case are more concerned and active in politics during this election cycle. However, Americans have been given good reasons in the past as well and when it came to politics and elections in particular the honest truth is that we often times sleep through the process in mass. With that in mind, it would be nice and pleasant for us to assume that the massive amounts of money going into the political process through 2007 and now 2008 are from valid and legitimate campaign contributors. Unfortunately, this is the first election cycle in history where electronic payments are present and utilized around the country and around the world by a rapidly growing number of people.
That change makes it very possible for valid contributors to receive funds electronically and turn that money around in a contribution to a political candidate or campaign. On the darkest side, it also makes it very possible for a single contributor to take funds convert them into multiple varieties of electronic currency and make contributions to political candidates in the name of legitimate donors. In many situations this could even be done in a way that a political candidate or a PAC or other group, could receive the funds and never be able to tell a valid donation from an invalid donation. Furthermore, when the campaigns follow through and make their monthly reports to the FEC, the campaigns reporting and the FEC receiving could easily miss the transactions taking place and the source of the funds behind those transactions.
Future Installments in our Campaign Finance and Money Laundering Series
In our next installments in this series, we will take a closer look at the mediums of transmission that could be involved in this process. Then we will look at some differences in the structures used by campaigns taking place today that could subject the campaigns to abuse. We will even look at situations or methods that could enable actual money laundering operations to utilize their illegal skills to influence actual political campaigns. Finally, we will take a look at some of the techniques that the FEC is using to combat this problem and what you can do to help.
