Puerto Rico super PAC president sentenced for dark money scheme

The president of a super PAC in Puerto Rico was sentenced on Friday to 14 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to hiding the identities of donors for an election campaign.

Joseph Fuentes Fernandez, 61, served as the president and treasurer of the Super PAC Salvemos a Puerto Rico. He raised funds to support the 2020 election campaign for a candidate for office in the executive branch of the island’s government, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

After forming the super PAC, Fuentes and two others formed two shell nonprofit social organizations. Fuentes admitted that he solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to be sent to the two shell nonprofit companies.

Salvemos a Puerto Rico reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that the routing of the funds through the nonprofit companies was to conceal the true identities of the donors.

“You can use a third party to not disclose the true donor,” Fuentes sent in a text message to a potential donor in October 2020.

“By ensuring that many of the true donors to Salvemos a Puerto Rico remained anonymous, Fuentes and Salvemos a Puerto Rico deprived the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the FEC of information about the true source of hundreds of thousands of dollars flowing into Puerto Rico’s political system,” reads the statement by the DOJ.

Federal authorities said the super PAC has been ordered to pay a $150,000 fine and will be placed on a three-year probation.

“Super PACs — unlike traditional PACs — are barred from donating money directly to political candidates. They also are required to report donors to the Federal Elections Commission,” reported The Associated Press.