Liberty Alliance USA Files FEC and Missouri Ethics Complaints Against Nathan Willett
Liberty Alliance USA has filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission and the Missouri Ethics Commission alleging that Nathan Willett improperly routed $165,384.46 from his terminated state Senate campaign committee to support his campaign for Congress.
According to the complaints, the money was transferred through a small Georgia nonprofit before reaching Conservative Future Fund, a federal super PAC that has spent heavily in support of Willett’s congressional campaign. The complaints also allege that Willett personally covered bounced refund checks to donors without disclosing those payments.
Read the full complaints and press release here.
LIBERTY ALLIANCE USA FILES FEC AND STATE COMPLAINTS ALLEGING NATHAN WILLETT ILLEGALLY FUNNELED $165,000 IN STATE CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO HIS CONGRESSIONAL RUN
The complaints allege that Willett’s terminated Missouri state Senate committee routed $165,384.46 through a small Georgia nonprofit to a super PAC that has funded more than three-quarters of its spending on his federal campaign with that money, and that Willett personally covered bounced refund checks to his own donors without disclosing it.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Today, Liberty Alliance USA filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) alleging that Nathan Willett, a candidate for Missouri’s 6th Congressional District, illegally directed $165,384.46 from his terminated state Senate campaign committee to benefit his federal candidacy.
According to the complaints, Willett’s state committee, Nathan Willett for Missouri, transferred $165,384.46 to Grassroots America Inc., a small Georgia-based nonprofit, on the same day the committee filed paperwork terminating its existence. Within weeks, Grassroots America Inc. contributed that exact amount to the penny, less $5,000, to Conservative Future Fund, a federal super PAC that has spent more than $207,000 supporting Willett’s congressional campaign and opposing his primary opponent. Grassroots America Inc.’s treasurer, Jason Boles, simultaneously serves as treasurer of Willett’s own federal campaign committee and owns the compliance firm Willett’s federal committee paid during the same period.
As the FEC Complaint points out, the illegal contribution from Grassroots America Inc. accounted for roughly 77% of every dollar Conservative Future Fund has spent on Willett’s federal race. Without the state committee funds, the super PAC would have had only about $47,500 to spend supporting Willett’s campaign, a fraction of what it actually spent.
The Missouri MEC complaint separately alleges that several donors who had contributed to Willett’s state campaign requested refunds, and that the committee issued refund checks to them from its own account on the same day Willett personally directed $165,384.46 out of that same account to Grassroots America Inc. Many of the committee’s refund checks bounced for insufficient funds — because, the complaint alleges, Willett had just emptied the account he knew the committee needed to cover those very checks. Weeks later, after donors came back reporting their checks had bounced, Willett personally covered the shortfall with checks he signed. None of it, the bounced checks, or Willett’s personal payments to cover them, was ever disclosed to the Missouri Ethics Commission.
“This isn’t a coincidence — it’s a candidate using a shell of a nonprofit that shares a treasurer with his own campaign to launder his old campaign account into a super PAC built to elect him to Congress,” said Andy Bakker, Executive Director of Liberty Alliance USA. “More than three out of every four dollars that super PAC spent on his race trace directly back to his old state campaign account. This is illegal. Nathan Willett knew exactly how much money he was pulling out of that account, and he knew his own donors were still owed refunds from it. He drained the account anyway, their checks bounced, and voters never heard a word about it until he quietly wrote personal checks to clean up the mess. That’s not bad luck; that’s recklessness with other people’s money, followed by a cover-up. Missouri voters who gave to Nathan Willett’s state Senate campaign didn’t sign up to bankroll his run for federal office through a Georgia nonprofit they’ve never heard of, and federal law says he can’t do that. We’re asking the FEC and the Missouri Ethics Commission to follow the money and hold him accountable.”
Federal law prohibits federal candidates from soliciting, receiving, directing, or spending “soft money” — funds not subject to federal contribution limits and source restrictions — in connection with a federal election. The FEC complaint alleges Willett and the entities involved violated that ban, along with the prohibition on contributions made in the name of another and rules barring a federal candidate’s committee from accepting funds from the candidate’s prior state campaign committee. The Missouri complaint alleges the payment was not a permitted use of state campaign funds under Missouri law; that Willett’s committee’s termination filing, which certified “no surplus remained” and that the committee had no outstanding debts, contradicted the committee’s own records showing the $165,384.46 leaving its account the same day the committee’s own donor refund checks bounced; that Willett’s actions in draining the account while the committee owed refunds to its own donors amounted to reckless disregard of the committee’s obligations; and that the committee never disclosed to state regulators that its checks had bounced or that Willett personally paid to make the donors whole.
The FEC and the Missouri Ethics Commission are responsible for enforcing the campaign finance laws at issue and should investigate the full relationship between Nathan Willett for Congress, Grassroots America Inc., and Conservative Future Fund, as well as his state committee’s bounced refund checks and the source of the payments that later made those donors whole.
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