FACT Calls For Investigation into Foreign National Political Consultant for Unlawful Contributions

Washington, D.C.— September 27th, 2023—Today, the non-partisan ethics watchdog, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), filed a complaint requesting the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigate whether Antonio Valdovinos, a foreign national, broke federal law by seeking to influence the outcome of federal elections. It is also illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election.

Antonio Valdovinos is the founder and CEO of a political consulting firm named La Machine. Valdovinos is also a self-proclaimed foreign national who regularly touts his status as a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program. Despite his foreign national status, Valdovinos appears to have made direct monetary contributions to federal political committees, worked as a campaign staffer to directly influence the election of federal candidate Rubén Gallego, and worked to influence multiple federal elections through his political consulting firm, "La Machine Consulting."

Since October of 2019, campaign disclosure reports show Valdovinos has made at least 17 monetary contributions to federal political committees (full list shown in the complaint linked to below). Given his apparent citizenship status these political donations would be unlawful. However, his contributions to federal elections are not limited to the strictly monetary. In 2014, Valdovinos worked as a paid campaign staffer to help elect then-state legislator Rubén Gallego to the U.S. House of Representatives. In addition to these two apparent violations, Valdovinos continues to work for multiple political parties and candidates to influence U.S. federal elections through his political consulting firm, La Machine, which, despite his foreign national status, he founded in 2016. All of the above would seem to be blatant violations of federal law.

"The United States has fought since its founding against foreign influence in our elections and the laws that do so are very clear and very important. Foreign nationals are barred from contributing in any substantive way, both financially or strategically, and given the facts here this is precisely what appears to have happened--repeatedly. The monetary political donations made by Mr. Valdovinos would be egregious violations in and of themselves, and the fact he literally created a political consulting firm with a significant client list and billings is truly beyond the pale. I hope the FEC will move swiftly to investigate the matter and, based on their findings, decisively address any past and ongoing violations of federal law made by Mr. Valdovinos,” stated Kendra Arnold, Executive Director of FACT.

A full copy of the FEC complaint can be found HERE.

FACT is a nonprofit organization promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas. For more on FACT, visit: http://www.factdc.org/

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