Over $300,000 that was transferred from Hillary Clinton’s joint fundraising venture to state Democratic parties is unaccounted for, a review of campaign finance records by the Washington Free Beacon has found.
The Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising effort between the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and 32 state parties, allows Clinton mega-donors to cut much larger checks than what can be contributed directly to candidates or committees by law. A single donor can give upwards of $700,000 to the fund.
According to Hillary Clinton’s website, the first $2,700 from an individual is allocated to Clinton’s campaign, while the next $33,400 is given to the Democratic National Committee. Any additional amount is then supposed to be split equally among the Democratic state parties.
A Free Beacon review of the fund’s disbursements and the subsequent financial statements of all 32 Democratic state parties found that hundreds of thousands in money transfers sent from the Hillary Victory Fund was never reported as received by parties in five states.
One such state was Louisiana. The Hillary Victory Fund reported sending $64,000 to the Democratic State Central Committee of Louisiana on Dec. 1, 2015, followed by a second transfer of $80,000 on Jan. 4. Neither transfer was marked as received on the state committee’s financial statements filed to the Federal Election Commission.
On Jan. 4, the victory fund made a $73,000 transfer to the Kentucky State Democratic Central Executive Committee. This does not appear on the party’s transfers from affiliated committees where it should be registered.
In Idaho, the party reported receiving a $43,500 transfer on Nov. 2, 2015 and another $80,000 transfer on Jan. 4. In between these transfers, on Dec. 2, 2015, the Hillary Victory Fund sent $20,600 to the state party. This transaction was not reported as received.
The Tennessee Democratic Party received three transfers between November and January for $43,500, $20,600, and $80,000. The $43,500 transfer is nowhere to be found on the group’s financial statements.
In Mississippi, the Democratic party recorded a $20,600 transfer from the victory fund on Dec. 1, 2015. Two separate transfers of $24,000 and $19,500 made in October and November were not recorded.
All told, $324,600 was not reported as received by the five state parties after it was sent from the Hillary Victory Fund. None of the state parties responded to inquiries about the transactions and why the money was not reported to the FEC.
When the transfers were reported by state parties, most of the money appears to have been funneled to the DNC almost immediately. This occurred in almost every state involved in the fund’s partnership, Politico previously reported.
The following four states show the typical flow of money from the Hillary Victory Fund to the state party to the DNC, a flow that has left less than one percent of donations with state parties.
Alaska Democratic Party:
On Nov. 2, 2015, $43,500 was transferred from the Hillary Victory Fund to the Alaska Democratic Party. A second transfer of $20,600 was made on Dec. 1, 2015.
On the day of the $43,500 transfer, the Alaska Democratic Party transferred an equal sum to the DNC. The state party transferred $20,600 to the DNC the day of the second transfer.
All of the money from the Hillary Victory Fund to the Alaska Democratic Party appears to have ended up at the DNC.
Colorado Democratic Party:
Four transfers totaling $148,000 were made from the Hillary Victory Fund to the Colorado Democratic Party. The transfers were for $45,000 on Nov. 2, 2015, $21,000 on Dec. 1, 2015, $70,000 on Jan. 4, and $12,000 on March 16.
On the day of the first transfer, $45,000 was kicked from the state party to the DNC—the same amount that was given to the party. Six days after the second transfer, $21,000 was given to the DNC. The same day as the third transfer, $70,000 was pushed to the DNC.
In total, $136,000 of the $148,000 in transfers made to the Colorado Democratic Party appears to have ended up with the DNC. The state party kept the fourth donation of $12,000, or roughly 8 percent of the total.
Democratic Executive Committee of Florida:
On Oct. 1, 2015, the Hillary Victory Fund transferred $24,000 to the Democratic Executive Committee of Florida. The next day, the state committee transferred $24,000 to the DNC.
On Nov. 2, 2015, $21,500 was transferred from the victory fund to the state committee. The same day, the committee transferred $21,500 to the DNC.
On Dec. 1, 2015, the victory fund transferred $20,700 to the state committee. One day later, the committee transferred $20,700 to the DNC.
On Jan. 5, 2016, $80,000 was transferred from the fund to the state committee. While the state committee did not send the DNC money after this transfer, it did funnel $75,000 to the South Carolina Democratic Party the next day.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin:
The Hillary Victory Fund reported sending $207,278 to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in early January that was not reported on the party’s financial statements. However, the same day the funds were sent, the state party contributed $207,000 to the DNC.
Another transaction of $12,500 was recorded and retained by the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
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The Hillary Victory Fund has come under scrutiny from Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, which recently accused the fund of "serious apparent violations" of campaign finance law.
The fund "appears to operate in a way that skirts legal limits on federal campaign donations and primarily benefits the Clinton presidential campaign," according to a press release by the Sanders campaign.
The most recent FEC filings show that the Hillary Victory Fund has raised $58 million in total individual contributions with an additional $1.2 million coming from other committees.
From December 2015 to March, nearly $13 million was transferred to Hillary for America, making the Clinton campaign by far the biggest beneficiary of the fund.
The DNC pulled in almost $6 million in direct transfers around the same time. This does not include the money that passed through state parties before making its way to the committee. Nearly $16 million remained with the victory fund.
The fund did not return a request for comment on its operations.