Republican Attorney General-elect Kris Kobach has been fined by the Federal Elections Commission for violating federal campaign finance laws stemming from his unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate.
FEC records show that Kobach was fined for renting a 295,000-person email list from We Build the Wall, a nonprofit where Kobach worked as general counsel and sat on the board. The fine for Kobach and We Build the Wall was $30,000.
We Build the Wall, which sought to build a wall along the country’s southern border, now faces charges of money laundering and fraud.
Last September, Kobach abruptly resigned from the board of directors at We Build the Wall.
He left after New York state prosecutors charged former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon with money laundering and conspiracy for allegedly defrauding donors to the organization.
An effort to reach a representative of Kobach for comment on the FEC fine was unsuccessful Friday evening.
Records show Kobach’s Senate campaign rented the email list for a rate of $2,000, “significantly below the usual and normal charge for comparable political list rentals.”
The commission said that the difference in the value of the email list was an unlawful in-kind contribution from a corporation.
On July 18, 2019, and Aug. 1, 2019, the campaign sent emails to We Build the Wall’s email list from the group’s server, announcing Kobach’s candidacy, and soliciting contributions, records show.
Kobach and We Build the Wall contend that they believed, at the time of the rental, that the rate was consistent with rates for noncandidate lists.
They eventually agreed that “it was significantly below the usual and normal rate for comparable political list rentals.”
Lawyers for Kobach and We Build the Wall signed the agreement spelling out $30,000 in campaign finance violations fines.
The investigation started after the Campaign Legal Center and Common Cause filed complaints in 2019, accusing We Build the Wall of making an illegal contribution to Kobach’s campaign.
.
