ElNono
11-11-2021, 12:49 AM
They raised millions for Trump. Spent barely any of it on him. Now they’re indicted.
For the last five years or more, Matt Tunstall has used the name and likeness of Donald Trump and other politicians to ostensibly raise money for a network of political action committees. But he’s been accused of pocketing most of the money himself and on Wednesday, his so-called scam PAC operation finally caught up to him.
In an indictment unsealed on Wednesday (https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1447571/download), federal prosecutors charged Tunstall and Robert Reyes with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to lie to the Federal Election Committee. They allege that of the roughly $3.5 million raised by the PACs they ran during the 2016 election, “only approximately $19 were distributed to any candidate's authorized campaign committee or to any political cause, while a total of more than $1.5 million was used to benefit” the PAC operators themselves.
Prosecutors also charged Tunstall with multiple counts of wire fraud and money laundering. The indictment charges a third associate and cousin of Tunstall, Kyle Davies, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to lie to the FEC and multiple counts of wire fraud.
Tunstall, 34, has been linked to a number of political action committees (https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/politics/kfile-investigation-robocalls/index.html) — including as recently as this spring (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/15/trump-scam-pac-robocalls-475917) — using Trump’s name in order to raise money. Campaign finance disclosures showed that those PACs contributed little or none of that money to Trump’s campaign or causes. And Tunstall has reportedly used the returns to fund a lavish lifestyle for himself, or one portrayed as such online (https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/15/politics/kfile-pac-trump-robocall-operation/index.html).
So-called scam PACs have proliferated on the political fundraising scene (https://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/super-pac-scams-114581) over the last decade. A POLITICO investigation in 2019 (https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/23/trump-campaign-compete-against-groups-money-089454) identified more than a dozen pro-Trump PACs with no actual ties to the president, including one committee operated by Tunstall. The phenomenon has grown serious enough to trigger a warning from the FBI (https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/scam-pacs-are-on-the-rise-041521) earlier this year urging would-be donors to be on the lookout for such schemes.
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Another fine example of the government having to step up to protect the dumb from themselves, tbh...
For the last five years or more, Matt Tunstall has used the name and likeness of Donald Trump and other politicians to ostensibly raise money for a network of political action committees. But he’s been accused of pocketing most of the money himself and on Wednesday, his so-called scam PAC operation finally caught up to him.
In an indictment unsealed on Wednesday (https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1447571/download), federal prosecutors charged Tunstall and Robert Reyes with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to lie to the Federal Election Committee. They allege that of the roughly $3.5 million raised by the PACs they ran during the 2016 election, “only approximately $19 were distributed to any candidate's authorized campaign committee or to any political cause, while a total of more than $1.5 million was used to benefit” the PAC operators themselves.
Prosecutors also charged Tunstall with multiple counts of wire fraud and money laundering. The indictment charges a third associate and cousin of Tunstall, Kyle Davies, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to lie to the FEC and multiple counts of wire fraud.
Tunstall, 34, has been linked to a number of political action committees (https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/politics/kfile-investigation-robocalls/index.html) — including as recently as this spring (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/15/trump-scam-pac-robocalls-475917) — using Trump’s name in order to raise money. Campaign finance disclosures showed that those PACs contributed little or none of that money to Trump’s campaign or causes. And Tunstall has reportedly used the returns to fund a lavish lifestyle for himself, or one portrayed as such online (https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/15/politics/kfile-pac-trump-robocall-operation/index.html).
So-called scam PACs have proliferated on the political fundraising scene (https://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/super-pac-scams-114581) over the last decade. A POLITICO investigation in 2019 (https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/23/trump-campaign-compete-against-groups-money-089454) identified more than a dozen pro-Trump PACs with no actual ties to the president, including one committee operated by Tunstall. The phenomenon has grown serious enough to trigger a warning from the FBI (https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/scam-pacs-are-on-the-rise-041521) earlier this year urging would-be donors to be on the lookout for such schemes.
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Another fine example of the government having to step up to protect the dumb from themselves, tbh...