Porn Condom Opponents Fined For Illegal Donations To Initiative Campaign
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California's campaign finance watchdog announced $61,000 in fines Monday against opponents of a 2012 Los Angeles ballot initiative, who are accused of accepting donations from foreign adult film companies based in Cyprus and Luxembourg. Officials say it is the state's first prosecution for illegal out-of-country campaign donations.
The Fair Political Practices Commission said a campaign against Measure B, an initiative to require pornography actors to wear condoms during sex scenes, accepted and initially failed to report the true source of a $75,000 donation from Cyprus-based adult film company Froytal Services International. It said the committee also accepted more than $250,000 in contributions from a U.S. affiliate of Luxembourg-headquartered Manwin International.
State campaign finance law bars foreign entities from initiating or contributing to California political campaigns and bars campaigns from accepting such donations.
"It's important with the coming 2016 election year to make it known that we are watching all the ballot races, to know that foreign money will be restricted with state and local ballot measures," said FPPC enforcement chief Galena West.
West said the fines announced Monday are the first her agency has ever issued for violating the rule against foreign donations.
The FPPC said both companies are subsidiaries of Manwin Licensing International S.A.R.L., a Luxembourg-based Internet video and online advertising conglomerate that specializes in pornography, and they were both headed by the same man.
Telephone messages and emails sent to a Los Angeles listing for Manwin USA were not immediately returned Monday. Diane Duke, the committee's former treasurer, also did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
"Their contention is that they got bad legal advice as to when they were allowed to take the money and from whom. Since there was a domestic location, they thought that was enough," West said.
Cyprus and Luxembourg are known as investment destinations because of their favorable corporate tax rates.
The commission alleged 16 separate violations of state campaign finance laws, including failure to comply with a requirement that a campaign committee change its name to reflect major contributions of more than $50,000.
The fines do not become official until the FPPC meets on Dec. 17.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
