The agency is also more broadly reviewing potential criminal wrongdoing associated with the half million dollar donation, made the month before last fall’s closely fought governor’s race, and hasn’t ruled out bringing charges against Democratic Party officials.
State elections officials with strong ties to the party said in mid-May that they had ended their criminal investigation into the party, asserting they “did not find clear evidence that the Democratic Party of Oregon knew the true donor when they reported the contribution last year.” They also announced they had slashed their proposed fine on the party’s treasurer from $35,000 to $15,000.
Just weeks before that announcement, a state attorney representing the Secretary of State’s Elections Division said the division lacked authority to reduce the fine, which was based solely on the size of Singh’s donation and the number of days the party was tardy in reporting he was the donor. Kevin Gleim, an assistant attorney general representing the Elections Division, blasted the party in a legal memorandum, calling its efforts to correctly identify the donor “lackluster.”
Records show that party officials received multiple points of information last October that indicated Singh, FTX’s director of engineering, made the extremely large contribution. But they acceded to a “not strong” request from Singh that they instead attribute the donation to Las Vegas-based cryptocurrency funds transfer company Prime Trust, which helped facilitate the transfer of Singh’s money to the Democratic Party of Oregon.
Both the secretary of state who initiated the investigation and the state’s attorney general have strong financial and political ties to the Democratic Party of Oregon. Former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan received more than $424,000 in donations from the party when she was running for state legislative seats and secretary of state, according to campaign finance records. Fagan also has given $190,000 to the party since 2011. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has given the Democratic Party nearly $115,000 from her campaign fund since 2012.
Here is a timeline of the events that led to the misreported donation coming to light and the ensuing response from the Secretary of State’s Office:
Prior to Oct. 4, 2022: Diana Rogalle, a contracted fundraiser working for the Democratic Party of Oregon, solicits a campaign donation from Singh. It is unclear what date the solicitation took place because neither the Democratic Party of Oregon nor the Secretary of State will say. However, a Sept. 29 email shows Washington, D.C. Democratic political strategist Susan McCue connecting FTX lawyer Mark Wetjen and Rogalle so that “Diana can provide wire details for the $500K.”
Oct. 4, 2022: The Democratic Party of Oregon receives $500,000 via wire transfer. The transfer lists both Prime Trust and Nishad Singh as originators.
Oct. 6, 2022: Party compliance director Amelia Manlove sends an email directly to Singh, asking him if party officials should list Prime Trust as the “donor of record.” He does not reply.
Oct. 7, 2022: The Democratic Party of Oregon emails Rogalle, its contracted fundraiser, and alerts her that it plans to name Prime Trust as the donor for the $500,000 contribution. That same day, Rogalle forwards the party’s email to McCue, the Democratic political strategist who connected Rogalle with Singh’s representative, to ask whether the donor should be listed as Singh or Prime Trust. McCue responds that she’s learned from Singh’s representative, “Nishad prefers Prime Trust (though not strongly) so go w[ith] that.” The fundraiser then tells the Democratic Party of Oregon to disclose the contribution as coming from Prime Trust.
Oct. 9, 2022: The party reports to the Secretary of State’s Office that it received $500,000 from Prime Trust.
Oct. 27, 2022: The Oregonian/OregonLive sends an inquiry to Prime Trust and the Democratic Party of Oregon about why the company was supporting Oregon Democrats. Neither entity responds to the news organization by deadline.
Oct. 28, 2022: Rogalle receives an email from Singh’s representative stating that Singh made the $500,000 contribution personally not on behalf of Prime Trust. She informs the Democratic Party of Oregon of Singh’s email.
Oct. 31, 2022: The Democratic Party of Oregon amends its state campaign finance filing to identify Singh as the donor for the $500,000 campaign contribution.
Nov. 1, 2022: The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that the Democratic Party of Oregon had misreported the true donor of its largest ever campaign contribution and only updated its filing after the newspaper began making inquiries. That same day, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan launches an investigation into the misreported donation.
Nov. 11, 2022: Cryptocurrency exchange FTX files for bankruptcy.
Dec. 12, 2022: FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is arrested in the Bahamas and charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors, among other charges.
Feb. 1, 2023: A spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office confirms to The Oregonian/OregonLive that Molly Woon, the state’s new elections director, will not recuse herself from the investigation into the Democratic Party of Oregon. Woon previously worked for three years as the Democratic Party of Oregon’s communications director and deputy director. The elections director job that Woon took opened up after then-Secretary of State Shemia Fagan forced the previous director out in December.
Feb. 22, 2023: Oregon elections officials announce they plan to fine the Democratic Party of Oregon $35,000 for failing to disclose in a timely manner that Singh was the true donor of the $500,000 campaign contribution.
Feb. 28, 2023: Singh pleads guilty to six charges of criminal fraud, including to one count of conspiracy to violate federal campaign finance laws, and agrees to cooperate with the federal investigation into Bankman-Fried. He admits to making political donations to federal campaign committees with FTX customers’ money as part of his testimony related to the criminal case against Bankman-Fried.
April 4, 2023: Oregon election officials receive a letter from Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, requesting that they delay their communications with Singh until after the October 2023 trial of Bankman-Fried, who is facing federal fraud charges related to the collapse of FTX. In response, Oregon election officials say they are pausing their investigation into whether the Democratic Party of Oregon accepted the $500,000 campaign contribution under a false name.
May 12, 2023: State elections officials say they’ve closed the investigation into the Democratic Party of Oregon under a settlement in which they agreed to slash the proposed fine from $35,000 to $15,000. Their investigation into Singh remains ongoing.
May 18, 2023: Oregon elections officials ask the state Department of Justice to consider criminal charges against Singh for donating $500,000 to the Democratic Party of Oregon under a false name. They say that their investigation “did not find clear evidence that the Democratic Party of Oregon knew the true donor when they reported the contribution last year.”
May 19, 2023: Gov. Tina Kotek tells The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board that she does not support the fine reduction. She said the Election Division’s settlement with the Democratic Party added to her conviction that the new secretary of state that she will appoint must be someone who can restore “confidence in the decisions that are being made at the Secretary of State’s Office.” Kotek is appointing a new secretary of state to replace Fagan, who resigned May 2 after revelations that she took a lucrative outside consulting job with an embattled cannabis company.
May 22, 2023: Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat, recuses herself from the criminal investigation into Singh. Rosenblum has given the Democratic Party nearly $115,000 from her campaign fund since 2012, state campaign finance records show.
May 23, 2023: The Oregonian/OregonLive obtains and reports on a April 25 legal memorandum in which Kevin Gleim, an assistant attorney general representing the Secretary of State’s Elections Division, blasted the party, calling its efforts to correctly identify the donor “lackluster.” He writes that the Elections Division has no authority to reduce the resulting $35,000 fine on the party, which was determined solely on the size of Singh’s donation and the number of days the party was tardy in reporting he was the donor.
Harry Wilson, a lawyer for the Democratic Party of Oregon, wrote in a May 8 response that party officials “assumed that Singh controlled Prime Trust” and could therefore legitimately attribute his donation to it. Wilson said party officials made the faulty assumption in part because Singh’s expressed preference to name Prime Trust as the donor “indicated that Singh had the power to decide, which affirmed the DPO’s assumption that he controlled Prime Trust.”
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