'Red flags': Mysterious new company is quietly raking in millions from Trump's campaign
A mysterious company has collected more than $3 million from former President Donald Trump's campaign for reasons neither party will own, according to a new report.
The Delaware limited liability company Launchpad Strategies has received $3.1 million since incorporating in November from the Trump campaign and a pro-Trump fundraising committee, NBC reported Monday.
"Little is known about Launchpad Strategies LLC beyond its existence and the millions of dollars it has taken in from a presidential campaign," reporter Matt Dixon writes.
"It has never done other political work for state-level or federal candidates, according to federal and state campaign finance disclosures."
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The company website shows a black sky rising above grey clouds — the crosshairs cursor shows its location along the x and y axes. The only words that appear are the company's name and a contact form.
NBC reached out to the company through the form but did not receive a reply.
Launchpad Strategies is not registered in North Carolina, the state whose address appears in federal campaign finance reports, NBC notes.
Trump campaign spokesperson Brian Hughes told NBC all legal obligations had been met in a brief statement describing the company as "a digital advertising company that is primarily focused on our fundraising."
But several campaign finance watchdog organizations told Dixon that, as he put it, "the quasi-anonymous relationship between the company and the campaign raises red flags."
“It’s concerning to see a company formed just six months ago suddenly receive over $3.1 million from Donald Trump’s network," Saurav Ghosh, the Campaign Legal Center's director of federal campaign finance reform, told NBC.
“Who works there, what services they offer or have provided, and whether Trump’s payments to ‘Launchpad Strategies, LLC’ are for bona fide services or are, instead, actually payments to other vendors funneled through a mere corporate shell.”
The NBC report arrives between Trump's conviction in his criminal hush money trial and the upcoming Republican National Convention in July.
Trump has effectively created a historic new form of campaign fundraising, delivering stump speeches from the court and shilling mug shot merch, as no presidential nominee has ever before been convicted of criminal charges.
In May, Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to better his chances in the 2016 presidential election.