President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A billionaire supporting President Donald Trump allegedly funneled millions of dollars through a “straw donor” scheme, according to a complaint filed by a nonpartisan public interest watchdog.
On Tuesday, the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) submitted a 16-page complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging a Venezuelan billionaire and banker “funneled” $3.5 million to the MAGA Inc. super PAC months before he received a presidential pardon.
The complaint alleges those contributions were made by Isabela Herrera, the daughter of Julio Herrera Velutini, on her father”s behalf. The filing adds further grist to the mill by noting that Velutini had recently agreed to a “lenient plea deal” in a political bribery case.
“The available information supports finding reason to believe that Julio Herrera Velutini made, and his daughter Isabela Herrera knowingly permitted her name to be used to make, prohibited foreign contributions in the name of another totaling $3.5 million,” the filing reads.
In the underlying criminal case, prosecutors alleged a conspiracy in which “Velutini pledged to provide $300,000 to a super PAC” supporting the re-election campaign of a former Puerto Rican governor. This payment was allegedly “in exchange” for said governor “agreeing to replace Puerto Rico’s top banking regulator, who had led efforts to scrutinize a Velutini-owned bank,” the complaint explains.
In early July 2025, however, the U.S. Department of Justice allowed each co-conspirator to plead out to a lone misdemeanor offense, the complaint notes. The judge overseeing the case categorized the ensuing deal as a “decision to shift gears at the eleventh hour” which amounted to “a mere slap on the wrist” in lieu of the penalties in the offing should the case have moved forward as charged.
Months before that, in late December 2024, Velutini’s daughter donated $2.5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC. This donation was made “several weeks after Donald Trump had already won the 2024 presidential election,” the FEC complaint notes.
Then, in late July 2025, the banker’s daughter made a $1 million donation to the same pro-Trump super PAC, according to the complaint.
In August 2025, the plea deal was formalized.
In January 2026, “Trump pardoned Velutini, effectively erasing his criminal conviction,” the FEC complaint says.
To hear the CLC tell it, the banker’s daughter has “apparently modest financial means and lack of prior federal contributions,” according to a press release announcing the filing of the complaint.
From the filing at length:
On each of the two MAGA Inc. disclosure reports that report a contribution from Herrera, she self-reported having no employer — both reports indicate she is “Self-Employed” — and works as a “Financial Consultant” or “Finance Consultant.”
Herrera does not appear to own either of the properties she identified as her personal residence: according to publicly available mortgage records and real estate listing information, the two residential addresses that Herrera reported in connection with the respective contributions correspond to properties owned by others, not Herrera.
FEC records indicate that, prior to the $3.5 million in contributions to MAGA, Inc., Herrera’s only prior federal contribution was $20 to Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign (when Buttigieg was vying for an opportunity to run against Trump).
Such purported work and donation history makes the super PAC donation suspect and likely a violation of two separate campaign finance laws, the nonprofit alleges. Specifically, CLC alleges violations of 52 U.S.C. §30121 and §30122 — the prohibition against foreign nationals making campaign contributions and the prohibition against a campaign contribution in the name of another, respectively.
“Viewed in the overall context in which these contributions were made—namely, a transparent plan to supply funds to a super PAC advancing President Donald Trump’s political goals in exchange for favorable treatment for Velutini in connection with the federal criminal charges against him—there is a reasonable basis to conclude that Velutini, not Herrera, was the true contributor, and that the $3.5 million was funneled through Herrera because Velutini, a foreign national, is legally prohibited from making contributions or donations in connection with federal, state, or local elections,” the complaint goes on.
The filing puts a fine point on the argument to say there “is ample reason to believe” the banker’s daughter “living in a rented residence” and who previously supported one of Trump’s opponents “did not suddenly and independently decide…to contribute $3.5 million to Donald Trump’s primary super PAC, and procured the means to do so from her own personal funds.”
The complaint goes on to note Velutini’s prior involvement in the Puerto Rico scheme in service of the argument that something similar happened with regard to his daughter’s $3.5 million donations.
Again, the filing, at length:
[T]here is reason to believe that Velutini provided the funds to Herrera and directed her to contribute them to Trump’s super PAC, in an effort to elicit leniency and clemency from Trump’s administration. This type of corrupt bargain was, as noted above, not only consistent with Velutini’s own prior behavior—i.e., pledging to make a $300,000 super PAC contribution in return for Garced’s pledge to remove a regulator investigating one of Velutini’s banks—but also with established practice in Trump’s administration, which has openly transacted to provide pardons, commutations, and prosecutorial abdication in return for donations to his political organizations.
The FEC complaint also takes aim at the behavior of the 45th and 47th president’s own political organization in terms of pardons granted, and investigations dropped, allegedly in exchange for cash.
“[M]aking large donations to Trump’s political network, which includes MAGA Inc. as his primary super PAC, has become a well-documented tactic for those seeking to obtain benefits, including favorable treatment by others facing civil and criminal enforcement for illegal activity, from the Trump administration,” the complaint goes on.
The CLC says the “facts and circumstances” of the donations warrant an investigation.
“It is incumbent upon the Commission to investigate whether Herrera was, in fact, the true contributor—a limited and narrow question that can easily be answered with documentary evidence—and ultimately, to determine whether Velutini unlawfully injected $3.5 million in illegal foreign money into our electoral process,” the filing goes on.
The group says foreign electoral interference is an increasing problem.
“The timing and circumstances surrounding these contributions strongly suggest that Herrera Velutini flouted the law to corruptly seek presidential clemency, funneling foreign money to MAGA Inc. through his daughter,” CLC Campaign Finance Reform Director Saurav Ghosh said in a statement. “This straw donor scheme, which undermined the transparency and integrity of our elections, follows the well-documented pattern of wealthy individuals financially supporting President Trump’s favored causes and projects — often in secret — in exchange for benefits, including pardons. Voters have a right to know the true sources behind all political contributions.”
