LLC contribution
Definition
A contribution made through a limited liability company rather than an individual or ordinary corporation. Because LLCs can have opaque or shifting ownership, and in some jurisdictions were treated like individual donors rather than corporations, they became a vehicle for obscuring who is actually funding a contribution.
Why it matters
An LLC can be formed anonymously in days, given a single large contribution, and dissolved, making it far easier to mask a donor's identity or evade per-person contribution limits than using a personal check. Because LLCs can also be owned by other LLCs or foreign entities, they can launder contributions across borders.
Seen in the wild
New York's campaign finance law long treated LLCs as individuals rather than corporations, letting one real-estate developer use 27 different LLCs to funnel at least $4.3 million into state campaigns in a single cycle before the "LLC loophole" was closed.1 Federally, Global Energy Producers LLC, formed with no business history, gave large sums to a pro-Trump super PAC and was later tied to a Ukrainian-linked straw-donor prosecution.2