These final days of the campaign before Virginians head to the polls on Election Day really are not looking good for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe. As Alana Goodman reported on Saturday for the Washington Free Beacon, citing a copy of the filing that the outlet obtained, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) is asking the FEC to "promptly investigate" if a $350,000 donation that McAuliffe received violated federal laws about campaigns being prohibited from accepting donations from foreign nationals.
As Goodman explained about the donation:
LycaTel LLC, owned by Sri Lankan-British national Allirajah Subaskaran, gave McAuliffe $350,000 in July, the Free Beacon first reported in early October. The company is a New Jersey subsidiary of Subaskaran’s U.K.-based telecom conglomerate, which boasts a complicated web of offshore businesses and has been the subject of tax-fraud and money-laundering charges in France.
Goodman also quoted several experts in her reporting.
"Terry McAuliffe has a history of accepting foreign contributions. The FEC must fully investigate these serious charges that he accepted $350,000 in illegal foreign contributions for his current campaign," said Paul Kamenar, counsel to NLPC, who drafted and filed the complaint.
McAuliffe, who ran for governor in the 2009 Democratic primary and ran and won in 2013, has indeed been subject to investigation before over campaign donations.
As was first reported by CNN in May 2016, McAuliffe the subject of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and prosecutors from the Justice Department’s public integrity unit.
From the report:
Among the McAuliffe donations that drew the interest of the investigators was $120,000 from a Chinese businessman, Wang Wenliang, through his U.S. businesses. Wang was previously delegate to China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s ceremonial legislature.
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Wang also has been a donor to the Clinton foundation, pledging $2 million. He also has been a prolific donor to other causes, including to New York University, Harvard and environmental issues in Florida.
As The Washington Post reported months later, in September 2016:
Wang Wenliang, a Chinese billionaire and donor to the Clinton Foundation and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, has been expelled from China’s top legislature after being caught up in a widespread cash-for-votes scheme.
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McAuliffe expressed confidence in May that Wang, who gave a combined $120,000 to his 2013 gubernatorial campaign and 2014 inauguration, was a “legitimate donor.”
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Wang’s political donations to McAuliffe reflect sizable overlap in Clinton and McAuliffe donors. Critics say the pattern suggests contributions to McAuliffe, a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s, are intended to curry favor with a former president and an aspiring one. McAuliffe supporters say the overlap is the natural outgrowth of personal and political bonds the governor has forged over a long career as a Clinton fundraiser.
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Wang’s name surfaced again in May, when news leaked that the FBI was investigating McAuliffe. CNN, citing anonymous sources, reported at the time that investigators were interested in a contribution the Chinese citizen had made to McAuliffe.
The FBI probe remains ongoing, two people familiar with the investigation told The Post, and Wang is one piece of it, one of the people said.
Investigators also are assessing whether McAuliffe ran afoul of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, an obscure statute that regulates U.S. citizens’ lobbying of the U.S. government on behalf of foreign governments. They also are examining financial transactions dating back to when he was chairman of the Democratic National Committee, trying to determine if the DNC benefits were illegally linked to Democratic donors, two people said. They are focused on foreign contributors, including Wang and someone from Saudi Arabia, one of the people said.