TALLAHASSEE — The secret fundraising network created by political operatives working for Florida Power & Light and other clients appears to have violated campaign finance laws and should be investigated, according to a complaint filed Thursday with the Federal Elections Commission by a Washington-based watchdog group.
Citing reports published in the Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times and the Orlando Sentinel, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said that the operatives pitched clients on a funding structure with the intent “to illegally hide the identities of the true source or sources of contributions.“
By routing contributions through nonprofit entities they controlled to super PACs, they were able to steer hundreds of thousands of dollars into election-related activities without the public knowing who was behind it, the complaint said.
