On Wednesday, a campaign watchdog group lodged a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign and affiliated political committees of hiding $7.2 million in legal fees by channeling them through a separate shell company, which violates campaign finance laws.
The complaint, filed by the Campaign Legal Center, focuses on Red Curve, the company that received the payments. Red Curve is headed by Bradley Crate, who serves as the treasurer for the Trump campaign and four related political committees listed in the complaint, as well as for numerous other candidates and committees.
According to the Campaign Legal Center, the Trump political committees used Red Curve as a front to hide payments for legal services. The complaint was submitted shortly after The Daily Beast published an article detailing the payments to Red Curve.
Neither Red Curve nor representatives from the Trump campaign provided a response to the allegations.
The complaint also alleges that Red Curve made advance payments for legal costs on behalf of the Trump committees, potentially violating a campaign finance law that prohibits corporations from contributing to candidates.
Saurav Ghosh, the director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, stated that Red Curve’s actions could be considered illegal under federal campaign finance law if treated as a corporation. Ghosh also noted that if Red Curve is classified as an unincorporated entity for campaign finance purposes, the contributions would exceed the legal limits.
Since leaving office in 2021, Mr. Trump has spent over $100 million on legal fees, with a significant portion covered by political donations. Red Curve received the largest share of these payments, totaling $7.2 million, according to FEC records.
In addition to the complaint against Red Curve, the Campaign Legal Center referenced similar violations of campaign finance law involving Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2016. The group highlighted payments made to Fusion GPS for research against Mr. Trump, which was used in the infamous Steele dossier. The Clinton campaign and the DNC agreed to pay fines to settle an FEC investigation into their campaign spending disclosures.
Mr. Ghosh drew parallels between the Fusion GPS case and the Red Curve situation, emphasizing the lack of transparency regarding payments and the nature of the services rendered.
