Federal Election Commission law says an individual citizen can contribute $2,700 directly to a presidential campaign.
The limits are much higher for contributions to state parties. and a party’s national committee.
Individuals could write a check for $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund -- representing $10,000 to each of the thirty-two states’ parties who were part of the Victory Fund agreement = $320,000 ... and $33,400 to the DNC.
The money would be deposited in the 32 states first, and then transferred to the DNC.
Money in battleground states usually stayed in that state, but all the other states funneled "their" money directly to the DNC, which transferred the money to Hillary Clinton's campaign in Brooklyn.
That Hillary Victory Fund was supposed to be for the nominee, and the state party races, but Hillary was controlling the money before she got the nomination, according to Donna Brazille.
The states kept less than 0.5% of the $82 million they got from the fund-raisers Hillary’s campaign was holding.
A 2016 Politico story described this arrangement as "money laundering" for the Clinton campaign.
The document that described the deal was the Joint Fund-Raising Agreement between the DNC, the Hillary Victory Fund, and Hillary for America.
The agreement was signed by Amy Dacey, the former CEO of the DNC, and Robby Mook, with a copy to Marc Elias.
The agreement specified that in exchange for raising money, and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised.
The Clinton campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff.
The DNC also was required to consult with the Clinton campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.
When you have an open contest without an incumbent and competitive primaries, the party is supposed to come under the candidate’s control only AFTER the nominee is certain.
The Clinton - DNC funding arrangement may be illegal, violating campaign fundraising laws.
It sure looks unethical.
