Who's Behind the Ghost Companies Funding Jeb Bush's Super-PAC?
In February, a limited liability company called TH Holdings LLC donated $100,000 to Right to Rise, the super-PAC supporting Jeb Bush's bid for the GOP presidential nomination. That's not extraordinary; quite a few LLCs have donated to the super-PAC, which has so far raised more than $103 million. But TH Holdings is a special case—one that represents the worst-case scenario in the post-Citizens United campaign finance landscape: untraceable corporations shoveling untraceable cash into the political system. Beyond this six-figure contribution, the company appears to have no history of doing business anywhere. And its incorporation records reveal no owners, managers, or officers.
As far as the public record goes, this looks like a ghost company. So who is behind this contribution?
There are a few clues. In connection with its donation, TH Holdings listed an address in New York City that has also been used by Neuberger Berman, a private investment firm, to register some of its funds. Coincidentally or not, Neuberger Berman's CEO is George Herbert Walker IV, Jeb Bush's second cousin. And Bush himself is a partner in one of the firm's private equity funds.
A Neuberger Berman spokesman confirmed that the address associated with the donation is Neuberger Berman's, but said the LLC is not a Neuberger Berman entity. Walker, who made his own donation of $100,000 to Right to Rise several weeks before the TH Holdings contribution, told Mother Jones that he has no connection to the LLC.
TH Holdings isn't the only mystery LLC funding the pro-Bush super-PAC. A few days after the TH Holdings contribution, Right to Rise received another curious donation. This time, an Alabama-based company called Heather Oaks LLC dumped $100,000 into the group. And Heather Oaks is even more ghostly than TH Holdings. According to Alabama records, the company hasn't existed for more than 10 years. It was originally founded as the holding corporation for an apartment complex, but the property was sold in the early 2000s. According to the state of Alabama, the company was merged into another limited liability company in 2004. That LLC, according to Alabama records, was dissolved a week later. So how does an out-of-business firm come to contribute $100,000 to a political outfit?