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It is not legal for foreign citizens to contribute to US political campaigns.
by dublinben 13y ago
It is not legal for foreign citizens to contribute to US political campaigns.
- r00fus 13y agoHowever, 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 agoI 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 agoIs 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 agoIt 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.