CREW calls FEC to investigate Greitens campaign’s secret donor scheme

In June of 2018, CREW and Noah Bookbinder filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) seeking an immediate investigation and enforcement for a direct and serious violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) related to the campaign of now-former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.

In 2016, supporters of Mr. Greitens used federal super PACs and nonprofit organizations to execute a conduit contribution scheme in a deliberate effort to circumvent disclosing the identity of donors supporting Mr. Greitens’ election.

The scheme involved routing more than $6 million through the nonprofits American Policy Coalition & Freedom Frontier, to two federal super PACs, SEALs for Truth and LG PAC.  SEALs for Truth then directly contributed $1.975 million to Mr. Greitens’ campaign, while LG PAC spent more than $4.3 million on advertisements and other media attacking Mr. Greitens’ opponents and supporting his candidacy.

These apparent violations of law deprived the public of timely information about the identities of those trying to influence the gubernatorial election and therefore demand investigation.

CREW has since amended the original complaint twice, first in August of 2018 and again in November of 2018, to reflect updated information about Freedom Frontier’s 2016 taxes.

Despite clear evidence and documentation of the conduit contribution scheme, including sworn testimony from a former Greitens staffer, the FEC failed to act in the more than 14 months since CREW filed its complaint. CREW has now sued the FEC to ensure that the groups and individuals involved in the scheme face accountability and transparency as required by campaign finance law.