McAuliffe Campaign accepted 200k from Middle East foreign agent
"A really easy way to launder foreign money into the U.S. political process"
Terry McAuliffe, the Virginia Democratic candidate for governor, took $200,000 from a registered foreign agent.
Campaign finance and lobbying disclosure records showed that McAuliffe received $200,000 from a company associated with the United Arab Emirates according to the Washington Free Beacon. The campaign donations came from the digital marketing firm Terakeet. Last year, the company registered as a foreign agent with the UAE.
"McAuliffe’s ability to raise so much money from so many different sources with foreign interests should make any voter in the state of Virginia worry about his priorities if elected," Director of the NLPC’s Government Integrity Project Tom Anderson said.
The donation from Tarakeet is one of the largest McAuliffe has received. The campaign has also faced scrutiny for another $350,000 donation from the company LycaTel. The company is owned by British national.
The director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, Ben Freeman, said that many times foreign companies will use political campaigns and organizations to launder money.
“A really easy way to launder foreign money into the U.S. political process,” Freeman said.
McAuliffe’s campaign did not return a request for comment.