On June 27, 2023 the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) published an allegation involving manufactured housing connected ECN Capital, parent company to manufactured home lender Triad Financial Services, with claims of foreign election interference. Specifically, CLC’s headline said: “DeSantis’s Soft Money Operation Opens the Door to Foreign Election Influence.” According to Influence Watch “The Campaign Legal Center is an advocacy group aligned with left-of-center interests that supports strict enforcement of campaign finance laws. Legal Center attorneys track and participate in a variety of cases around the country involving campaign finance law at the federal, state, and local levels.”
The CLC’s post was by Saurav Ghosh. Per CLC, “Saurav developed a passion for defending the integrity of our democracy as an enforcement attorney at the Federal Election Commission.” CLC states that: “Saurav is the Director, Federal Campaign Finance Reform at CLC.”
Ghosh’s post stated the following allegations provided in Part I of this report. CLC’s purported complaint about DeSantis’ campaign and ECN have been picked up by the Miami Herald and others in mainstream media. Per the CLC is the following which will be followed in Part II of this report with MHProNews’ inquiry to Triad’s President and CEO Mike Tolbert, who provided a written response to the CLC allegations. MHProNews also reached out to CLC’s Ghosh for remarks, that too is further below in Part II.
Part I
Per CLC…
Our democracy works best when voters have complete and accurate information about who’s spending money to influence elections. In addition to informing voters about where political money is coming from, electoral transparency also helps ensure that our elections are safe from corruption and foreign influence. Federal campaign finance laws require the disclosure of all political contributions and unequivocally prohibit foreign nationals from making campaign contributions or otherwise spending money to influence federal, state, and local elections.
Federal laws have banned the use of soft money in federal elections for over two decades, yet the practice appears to be stronger than ever: Last year, former president Donald Trump transferred $60 million that he raised through his leadership PAC to a super PAC backing his 2024 presidential campaign, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently moved $82.5 million from his state PAC, “Friends of Ron DeSantis,” to a federal super PAC backing his presidential campaign.
Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) — the agency tasked with implementing and enforcing federal campaign finance laws — against both candidates for violating the laws banning soft money, and those complaints are still pending.
Yet in the meantime, CLC learned of a different, though related, violation that prompted us to file a new complaint with the FEC.
According to Florida campaign finance disclosure records, a Canadian company, ECN Capital Corporation (ECN Capital), contributed over $100,000 between 2018 and 2022 to state political committees in Florida, including DeSantis’s 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial campaigns and his state PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis. Moreover, ECN Capital’s U.S. subsidiaries reported contributing an additional $112,000 to the same committees during the same period.
As a corporation registered in Canada, ECN Capital is a “foreign national” under the law, and its head office is in Toronto (though, according to its website, it also has an office in West Palm Beach, Florida, suggesting why the company might be interested in supporting Florida politicians). ECN Capital’s leadership team appears to be comprised mostly, if not entirely, of Canadians.
The Federal Election Campaign Act unequivocally prohibits foreign nationals, including foreign corporations, from making contributions in connection with a federal, state, or local election – which means that the contributions attributed to ECN Capital are clearly illegal.
Moreover, DeSantis’s transfer of soft money from Friends of Ron DeSantis to a super PAC backing his presidential campaign raises the troubling prospect that foreign money could be influencing the 2024 presidential election.
A U.S. subsidiary of a foreign parent company can, in principle, make political contributions — so long as it does so with domestically-generated money, and no foreign national participates in the subsidiary’s decision-making process regarding the contributions. The concern with ECN Capital’s subsidiaries is that they appear to exist only on paper, and at least one, ECN (US) Holdings, has admitted that it is jointly managed by ECN Capital’s CEO, who appears to be a Canadian national.
If ECN Capital’s subsidiaries are managed by the same officers as the parent company, and foreign national officers participated in the subsidiaries making contributions, then those contributions would also be illegal. In fact, a similar complaint that CLC filed in 2019 led to a massive $975,000 fine against Barry Zekelman, a Canadian steel tycoon, for participating in his company’s U.S. subsidiary making a seven-figure contribution to a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.
Federal campaign finance laws strive to preserve and uphold the integrity of our elections, including by stopping foreign influence in its tracks. But in order to do that, these laws have to be enforced; the FEC has said that stopping foreign influence is one of its top priorities, and it can demonstrate that here by taking swift action to enforce the law in this case. ##
Part II – Additional Information from Outreaches to Mike Tolbert, Triad Financial, Saurav Ghosh with CLC, and More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
According to ECN Capital’s website: ‘Mike Tolbert [is the] President Triad Financial Services.’ ECN’s bio stated the following. “Mike Tolbert is President of Triad Financial Services responsible for business operations. He joined in 2006 and previously oversaw the successful building and operations of Triad’s west coast division. Mr. Tolbert has over 20 years’ experience in the manufactured housing industry. His broad expertise includes in-depth lending program management, risk management, regulatory compliance, income/credit analysis, business process optimization, product development and pricing strategies.”
The emailed inquiry from MHProNews to Triad’s President Tolbert about the CLC allegations said the following.
Perhaps you already know about reports like this and others like it?
In looking at the source and remarks, it seems that they may have a bias (against Trump and DeSantis) and b, may have provided the answer to their own ‘complaint’ against ECN. Quoting their post:
A U.S. subsidiary of a foreign parent company can, in principle, make political contributions — so long as it does so with domestically-generated money, and no foreign national participates in the subsidiary’s decision-making process regarding the contributions. The concern with ECN Capital’s subsidiaries is that they appear to exist only on paper, and at least one, ECN (US) Holdings, has admitted that it is jointly managed by ECN Capital’s CEO, who appears to be a Canadian national.
Can you shed light on this topic, please? On or off the record, but by email for our mutual accuracy. If the reply is on the record, let me know if you or someone else should be credited with the remark. Have the reply sent to me, please. Thanks,
Tony [for MHProNews…]”
On Sunday Morning at 8:12 AM, Tolbert sent the following response.
“ECN is in full compliance with U.S. laws with respect to its U.S. political donations. These are entirely legal and appropriate.
ECN (U.S.) Holdings has made contributions to political candidates in full compliance with U.S. election contribution law. ECN (U.S.) Holdings, which made these donations, is a discrete entity incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware, and the contributed funds are from our domestic operations and administered by executives who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
Supporting the democratic process is important for ECN Capital, and all donations fully comply with applicable local and national regulations and disclosure requirements.”
MHProNews next reached out to CLC’s Saurav Ghosh their Director of Federal Campaign Finance Reform. The email to Ghosh said the following.
We are the manufactured housing industry’s largest and most read trade media. The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) allegations against the DeSantis campaign and ECN Capital have come to our attention. We plan to do a report and analysis on the item authored by you that is linked below. Our report and analysis will include the posted remarks as well as a response from Triad President and CEO Mike Tolbert. That report is planned for Monday morning, so a reply today is valued. Note that Tolbert gave his formal reply to MHProNews this Sunday morning at 8:12 AM.
Two questions.
First, have you or the CLC investigated any possible analogous situation involving Flagship Communities? They are publicly traded in Canada, but have U.S. operations. Their leadership includes Nathan Smith, who has been a high profile supporter of mostly Democratic candidates and their campaigns.
Second, you are hereby invited to respond to Tolbert’s reply, which stated in part the following. “ECN (U.S.) Holdings, which made these donations, is a discrete entity incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware, and the contributed funds are from our domestic operations and administered by executives who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.”
As a possible third area that you can comment on, if you wish, is Influence Watch’s analysis of CLC, linked below.
https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/campaign-legal-center/
Please send an email with your response to each of these two (or your possible additional reactions to Influence Watch) inquiries. There are no word limits, and PDF or similar attachments are welcomed. We will tread your response as on the record, unless it states otherwise.
Thank you,
Tony [for MHProNews…]”
More on CLC, per Influence Watch
According to Influence Watch is the following.
The CLC was originally funded by Pew Charitable Trusts, but has over time received donations from more overtly left-of-center organizations. 8 Some of the major donor organizations include the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, ActBlue, the MacArthur Foundation, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, and NEO Philanthropy’s State Infrastructure Fund. Pierre Omidyar, the left-wing founder of eBay, also donates to the CLC through various foundations.”
Additionally, Influence Watch noted that among the CLC’s donor organizations include the “Tides Foundation (Non-profit)”. As MHProNews and MHLivingNews have previously reported, the left-leaning Tides have received funding from apparently left-leaning Warren Buffett, George Soros and deep pocket donors that routinely favor political left candidate and causes, per Peter Flaherty, Chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), evidence from Influence Watch, and others.
Influence Watch also stated the following about CLC.
Between 2021 and 2022, the CLC had received over $2.5 million from crypto-based entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, whom as of December 2022 is being charged with multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy following his crypto-currency company FTX filing for bankruptcy in November 2022. 10 11 According to CLC spokesperson Brendan Quinn, CLC is unable to return Bankman-Fried’s donations because “the money is already spent.” 12 but according to Quinn the CLC would not consider sending back a similar amount that was donated because “when a campaign is asked to disgorge an already-spent contribution, it generally does so by giving an equivalent amount to a charity. CLC is a charity.” 13
Quinn later released a statement which confirmed that on December 16, 2022, the CLC board had voted to place the $2.5 million in donations it had received from Bankman-Fried into a separate account “until instructions are received from bankruptcy courts.” 14 Quinn’s statement further explained that the CLC had accepted the donations by Bankman-Fried “after careful vetting,” 15 which included consulting and discussing the matter with similar nonprofit organizations that had “vouched for his apparent legitimacy at the time.” 16 His statement, however, also conferred that the allegations and charges against Bankman-Fried did indeed “betray C.L.C.’s mission.” 17
WPTV reported on a related issue to CLC’s allegations the following.
“The goal of the PAC is to support candidates that believe in empowering parents in parental rights, and those candidates that are fighting for that,” he said May 18. “It’s a state PAC. So, the only thing that we can do with it is back state candidates or anybody that falls under a state election, so that’s your local school board, county commissioner, legislative office.”
There’s evidence supporting Ingoglia’s claim. The latest Empower Parents finance data from May 25 shows a contribution of $1 million to a similarly named PAC run by current Florida House Speaker Paul Renner. Never Back Down doesn’t make an appearance in the records, and the super PAC has yet to file its complete financial report.
It also remains unclear how quickly the FEC might respond to the complaint. Chlopak said it could take months, even years, for regulators to resolve an issue.”
Additional MHProNews Analysis
So, once the various elements of who said what and the patterns that are involved are surveyed, CLC is apparently able to make politically charged allegations that may take months or years to clarify, but which may in the interim cast a shadow on campaigns, companies, and individuals that may be acting entirely within the law.
Furthermore, as is shown herein from the sources as shown, there is reportedly a bias by CLC in favor of the political left. Their donors are left-leaning, and their targeting of the Trump or DeSantis campaigns appear to be obvious Republican targets of the CLC of high-profile individuals on the political right. As of the time of this writing, Trump is the runaway leader in the Republican primary field for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. DeSantis is number two among numerous Republicans in the hunt for their party’s presidential nomination.
To further support those concerns about CLC’s willingness to act in an unbiased or nonpartisan fashion, a check of Google News on 7.2.2023 at 3:42 PM there are no apparent news reports reflecting a CLC complaint against any Democrat (see below). Similar Google searches of CLC filing complaints substituting “Republican” for the word Democrat does yield several results. Put simply, there is evidence that the CLC is acting in a potentially biased fashion to benefit Democrats by leveling allegations mainly against Republicans. Thus, it may well be that Triad and ECN have simply been caught up in the apparent bias of CLC in acting by filing FEC complaints against support for Republican candidates or their allied PACs.
Certainly, the political right has in recent years invested more into nonprofits that offer some balance to the largely left-leaning nonprofit world, including in the realm of so-called “lawfare.” But research suggests that left-leaning nonprofits appear to have a clear edge in funding and a several years head start on more conservative or libertarian leaning nonprofit organizations.
As of 3.17 AM on Monday 7.3.2023 there has been no apparent reply from CLC or Saurav Ghosh to the MHProNews inquiry. To learn more, see the linked reports. MHProNews plans to monitor the developments on this and related matters and report to the industry’s readers as is deemed appropriate. Should CLC or Ghosh belated reply, MHProNews is prepared to provide their response to manufactured housing industry readers, investors, business leaders, affordable housing advocates, public officials, and others who are routine readers of this industry-leading ‘follow the facts’ and ‘follow the money trail’ trade media platform. ###
Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.’
