Drake Ventures

Jul 16, 2021

EAST AUTO NEWS & TRENDS Matt Gaetz’s marketing campaign paid $20,000 to Trump crony Roger Stone’s firm U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) appears to be like on as he speaks to the media whereas former White Home counsel Don McGahn seems earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 4, 2021. Joshua Roberts | Reuters Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz’s marketing campaign committee has paid at the least $20,000 to an organization that the Division of Justice alleges had been utilized by GOP political operative Roger Stone and his spouse to keep away from paying taxes, marketing campaign finance reviews confirmed. Gaetz’s marketing campaign paid the corporate, Drake Ventures LLC, for “Strategic Marketing campaign Consulting” between March and Could, in accordance with the committee’s quarterly Federal Election Fee filings, the latest of which got here out Thursday. That submitting, which confirmed the marketing campaign elevating about $1.45 million and spending greater than $1.9 million between April and June, additionally revealed greater than $825,000 spent on Logan Circle Group, the public-relations agency Gaetz employed as information surfaced that he was embroiled in a federal sex-trafficking probe. Gaetz has not been criminally charged and denies all wrongdoing. Gaetz’s marketing campaign additionally paid $50,000 in authorized charges throughout the quarter, half of which went to the regulation workplace of Marc Fernich, the protection lawyer whose notable purchasers embody late intercourse prison Jeffrey Epstein, convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and long-dead mob boss John Gotti. The Gaetz marketing campaign paid Stone’s firm in 4 separate chunks of $5,000, the paperwork confirmed. The FEC filings checklist a Fort Lauderdale tackle for Drake Ventures that’s related to Stone, who lives close by within the coastal Florida metropolis. The primary of these installments got here in late March, lower than per week earlier than The New York Instances first reported that the Justice Division was investigating whether or not Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old lady and paid for her travels with him. A second $5,000 cost went to Stone three days after that information broke. The opposite two funds got here after the DOJ in mid-April filed a civil swimsuit towards Stone and Nydia Stone, alleging the couple used Drake Ventures as an “alter ego” in an try to “defend their private revenue from enforced assortment and fund a lavish life-style.” “They used Drake Ventures to obtain funds which are payable to Roger Stone personally, pay their private bills, defend their property, and keep away from reporting taxable revenue to the IRS,” the DOJ wrote in its authorized grievance. The Stones owe practically $2 million in unpaid federal taxes and different charges, the DOJ alleged in lawsuit, which was filed in federal district court docket in Fort Lauderdale. The federal attorneys additionally accused the Stones of aiming to “defraud the USA” by utilizing property in Drake Ventures’ accounts to buy their dwelling within the title of a separate belief. Stone has referred to as the lawsuit “politically motivated.” “Our FEC filings communicate for themselves,” stated a Gaetz spokesperson in an electronic mail to CNBC on Thursday night. “Regardless of an countless stream of lies from the media, Congressman Gaetz continues to be among the many most prodigious fundraisers in Congress and is the one Republican who would not settle for donations from federal lobbyists or PACs. He thanks his tens of 1000’s of donors and guarantees to at all times combat for them.” Particulars have been scant concerning the nature of the “strategic marketing campaign consulting” companies being offered by the corporate to the Gaetz marketing campaign. “I am not serious about speaking concerning the case or saying something on the report,” stated Brian Harris, an lawyer representing Stone and Drake Ventures within the DOJ lawsuit, in a short telephone name with CNBC earlier than hanging up. Stone didn’t reply to CNBC’s queries concerning the funds from Gaetz’s marketing campaign committee. Two different attorneys representing the Stones and Drake Ventures, Derick Vollrath and Jeffrey Neiman, didn’t present remark. Stone and Gaetz are each Florida residents, and each are staunchly loyal to former President Donald Trump, who has lived in his Palm Seaside golf membership since leaving workplace in January. Trump in late December pardoned Stone, 68, who had been convicted of mendacity to Congress below oath. CNBC’s Brian Schwartz contributed to this report. Did you like this article? Share it now privacy-friendly!