A new report is blowing the lid off of what appears to be a money-laundering scheme involving longtime Hillary Clinton flack David Brock and the numerous pro-Clinton Super PACs and non-profits for which he acts as chairman.
The report, the culmination of a month-long investigation by The Citizen's Audit, shows that over the past several years, David Brock has been shifting funds between his various organizations, while a shady soliciting firm essentially shaves money off of the top each time he does.
Soliciting firms are used by organizations to find potential donors. These firms are paid a fee or commission according to the amount of dollars they are able to solicit from said donors. The soliciting firm used by Brock's organizations, the Bonner Group, takes a 12.5% commission. However--and this is where the corruption appears to be--the Bonner group takes a commission not only for the funds it helps to raise, but also each time money is simply passed between the various organizations Brock runs.
The Citizen's Audit explains the scheme thusly:
Say, for example, you donate $1,062,857 to Media Matters for America. This is how David Brock would have used your charitable donation in 2014:
1. Media Matters would receive your $1,062,857 donation
- The Bonner Group would earn a $132,857 commission
- Media Matters would retain $930,000
2. Next, Media Matters would give what’s left of your entire donation, $930,000, to the Franklin Education Forum
- The Bonner Group would ‘earn’ a $116,250 commission
- The Franklin Education Forum would retain $813,750
3. The Franklin Education Forum would then forward the remaining $813,750 to The Franklin Forum
- The Bonner Group would ‘earn’ a $101,718 commission
- The Franklin Forum would retain $712,031
In the end, Brock’s solicitor would have pocketed $350,825, almost a third of your initial donation! That’s a far cry from the advertised 12.5% commission.
The Bonner Group, with Brock's involvement, has taken advantage of this scheme to the tune of millions of dollars.
The group, which is conveniently housed in Brock's own Washington D.C. office, has failed to register in Washington D.C. as a professional solicitor, as is required by law.
The connection between Brock and the Bonner Group goes deeper than just shared office space. Brock also shares a rental property in the Hamptons with Mary Pat Bonner, who runs the soliciting firm.
The Citizen's Audit report concludes “We feel confident in saying, with close to absolute certainty, that David Brock is laundering money”. (Emphasis ours)
If the Citizen's Audit is correct, it would go a long way in explaining why David Brock appears to be scared of IRS scrutiny. In the past, the Clinton loyalist has agreed to pay close to a million dollars to an ex-boyfriend who threatened to go to the IRS with damaging information about Brock's shady financial dealings.
Earlier this month, The Daily Caller reported:
In a legal fight that the press has conveniently ignored, Brock’s former long-time live-in boyfriend William Grey (whom Brock has thanked in several of his books) threatened to go to the IRS with damaging information about how Brock was running his Media Matters empire. What did Brock do? He paid Grey $850,000 to keep quiet. Brock reportedly had to sell his home in Rehoboth, Delaware to come up with the money. This certainly seems to indicate that Brock was terrified about what the authorities would uncover.
Fox News also reported on the quarrel between Brock and his erstwhile paramour:
Grey accused Brock of "financial malfeasance" and threatened to undermine Brock’s fundraising efforts.
“Next step is I contact all your donors and the IRS,” Grey wrote in an email dated May 19, 2010. “This is going to stink for you if you do not resolve this now.”
Make no mistake about it: if Citizen's Audit's reporting is accurate--and we have no reason to believe it is not--the consequences for Brock would be devastating and would almost certainly include massive fines and potential jail-time.