Go-Between by Lisa Brackmann

Author:Lisa Brackmann
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Crime Fiction
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2016-04-21T17:16:05+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

It turned out it was perfectly legal to shield the identity of donors in a 501(c) organization from the public.

She’d copied the “Disclosures” file onto her new flash drive. Thought about trying to copy the DonorSoft files but decided against it, for now. Without the password, she was only guessing what files might be useful, and she had no way to open or make sense of them.

And Michelle had plenty of material to keep her busy tonight.

She leaned back into the pillows she’d propped against the headboard of her bed and put down her iPad for a moment. Took a sip of her wine.

She’d thought over the last few years that she’d gone beyond being surprised by much of anything. She’d known that politics was a manipulation by the powerful to get what they wanted. But she’d figured in this case she was looking for something more, well, illegal. Money laundering, bribery, things like that. Not something so obviously corrupt that was hiding in plain sight.

Of course, donors’ identities did have to be reported to the IRS. And she had little doubt that something illegal, in that it was against the letter of the law, was happening with Safer America. But this system just made it so easy to get away with.

No wonder they called it “Dark Money.”

Safer America Action was a 501(c)(4). A “social welfare” organization that was allowed to do political work. It could lobby, it could support or oppose candidates, thought it could not legally coordinate with candidates’ campaigns. A 501(c)(4) could work for or against legislation, as Safer America was doing in California. It could also contribute funds to a 527, an organization whose only purpose was politics and that could actually field candidates. But 527s were required to disclose their donors. So a 501(c)(4) donating to a 527 was a way to get around that requirement.

There were all kinds of ways to manipulate this, she thought, to shield who was advocating or attacking. One 501(c)(4) could donate to another, which could then donate to another, and eventually to a 527 to directly support a candidate. A tide of Dark Money could be transferred from organization to organization, and no one would know where or who it came from.

Companies and corporations could donate as much as they wanted, too. That check box for “Person” was what they marked as well. It seemed ludicrous, but she double-checked, and that was how it was done.

And how hard would it be to disguise that money? If, say, the Boys wanted to contribute something? They had all kinds of shell companies to funnel money through. Donations to a 501(c)(4) weren’t tax deductible, but why would they care about that?

They cared about buying influence. About purchasing elections.

Would an IRS auditor reviewing a 501(c)(4) look at a contribution from, say, a Blue Sky Enterprises and bother to check where that money came from, how Blue Sky had gotten it, as long as the paperwork looked okay?

“SAF” stood for “Safer America Foundation.” It was a 501(c)(3), so not involved in political work.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.