5 ms·

So, besides unsavorily and surreptitiously profiteering off the death of privacy and issuing otherwise-legal bribes to local guv players, it appears his only cr

• rbanffy 13y ago
  Is it illegal for a foreigner to donate to US political campaigns? How about working remotely as a volunteer? I am asking because I came very close to offering some of my free time once. I'm glad I was too busy at the time.
  • dublinben 13y ago
    It is not legal for foreign citizens to contribute to US political campaigns.
    • r00fus 13y ago
      However, thanks to Citizens United and SuperPACs, this is indeed possible, though probably still illegal [1]. The only flaw this guy had was not funneling it through the proper laundering mechanism and thus getting caught. From the article: "The new reality presented by the decision in Citizens United and the rise of super PACs raises concerns about the challenge of discovering such illegal activity," said Cynthia L. Bauerly, an FEC commissioner who ran the agency last year. [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/10/super-pac-donations_n_1267750.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/10/super-pac-donations...
      • objclxt 13y ago
        I think it is absolutely illegal, it's just very hard to trace it. Oddly enough one of the plot points on the latest season of House of Cards is around foreign money being channeled illegally into Super PACs.
        • r00fus 13y ago
          Is House of Cards the next West Wing? On topic: the issue is that despite illegality, if entities can do it without getting caught (i.e., if the win an election for executive office, they can muscle the government office to cover up the crime as needed), then it's still a huge problem. It's about expected risk vs. return - and so far we don't know what that calc looks like or who's taken the risks.
    • JumpCrisscross 13y ago
      It certainly is. I legally donated to U.S. political campaigns as a Swiss citizen because I was also a U.S. permanent resident. U.S. campaign finance law treats permanent residents as U.S. nationals.
  • _delirium 13y ago
    The U.S. doesn't allow contributions (monetary, in-kind, etc.) by foreign nationals to election campaigns. Both the act of contributing and the act of receiving the contribution would violate campaign-finance laws. Campaigns should usually be enough on top of this to ask if you're a U.S. national, and reject your contribution if not, though, so it should be relatively difficult to accidentally violate this law, unless the campaign isn't doing basic vetting. (For this purpose, permanent residents holding a "green card" are considered U.S. nationals, not foreign nationals.) However there is an exemption for providing uncompensated volunteer labor, because of a general rule that volunteer labor is not considered a contribution-in-kind (even though in some sense it is). That was written mainly so that you could contribute the max $ and also volunteer, without that being considered an in-kind contribution pushing you above the max contribution, but the exemption also applies to foreign volunteers. Details: http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/foreign.shtml http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/foreign.shtml
    • rbanffy 13y ago
      Thanks. That's great information. And a relief. At least, I was not going to do anything illegal.
    • erichocean 13y ago
      > The U.S. doesn't allow contributions (monetary, in-kind, etc.) by foreign nationals to election campaigns. In theory. There's no actual policing, so it's more of a guideline than a rule. Also, smaller contributions receive less scrutiny than ordering toothpaste from Amazon—exactly the kind of contributions you'd expect from foreigners who don't have much at stake in US elections.
      • rbanffy 13y ago
        The fact nobody is looking does not make it right.
• joe_the_user 13y ago
  The people who own this racket in the US likely don't want foreign competition. So, his crime is not being a bastard but not being our bastard.