In late June, #JaredIsaacman donated $1 million to #MAGA Inc., in addition to >$440,000 to the #RNC, around the time he mused to a reporter about running for #Congress as a #Republican or obtaining a different position in the #Trump admin.

But if the donation to MAGA Inc. was intended to win back Trump’s favor, it may instead have revealed the limits of political contributions as a means to court the president.

Then there is #JaredIsaacman, the #billionaire entrepreneur who led 2 private missions to orbit on #rockets made by the company of his close associate, the onetime #Trump ally #ElonMusk. Trump tapped Isaacman to be #NASA administrator soon after the election, but withdrew the nomination in May after #Trump supporters objected to Isaacman’s previous donations to Democrats.

#ElizabethFago had particular incentive to curry favor with #Trump at the time.

As NYT previously reported, she was appealing to Trump to #pardon her son, #PaulWalczak, who had pleaded #guilty to tax #crimes late last year.

Less than 3 weeks after Fago attended the dinner, Trump signed a full & unconditional pardon for Walczak. It spared him from having to pay nearly $4.4M in #restitution & from reporting to #prison for an 18-month sentence.

…Another guest at the April dinner was the businesswoman #ElizabethFago.

While Fago had raised money for #Republican candidates for decades, her previous largest federal donation on record was $100,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2002. Yet the day before the candlelight dinner, she donated $1 million to #MAGA Inc.

On May 5, #MAGA Inc organized a “crypto & #AI innovators dinner” featuring #Trump at his golf club in Virginia. Among the attendees, acc/to 2 people…, was #JPRichardson, the chief exec of the #crypto company #Exodus, which donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. in Jan.

“It is in the best interests of our company & its shareholders to support pro-crypto causes & candidates,” Richardson said in a text message. “We intend to continue backing similar efforts.”

An affiliate of the exchange Crypto.com gave $10 million, while the #crypto services company Blockchain.com donated $5 million. The venture capitalists #MarcAndreessen & #BenHorowitz, who are heavily invested in crypto, gave $3 million each.

#OndoFinance, which has a partnership with the #Trump family’s crypto company, donated $2.1 million to #MAGA Inc., on top of $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

#Cryptocurrency interests, which have benefited from the #Trump admin’s dismantling of a yearslong govt crackdown & from the Trump family’s financial interest in the industry, appear to have been the most generous industry, accounting for nearly $45M in donations to #MAGA Inc.

A nonprofit group called Securing American Greatness, which is affiliated with #MAGA Inc. but is not required to disclose its #donors, can accept cash from interests willing to pay for #access to #Trump without the controversy that can come with having that known.

Even the White House Historical Association has become a vehicle for lobbyists & favor seekers.

In response to a Reuters request, #Aqua1Foundation last month provided an unsigned statement, saying: “At this stage, we are not disclosing additional information beyond what has been publicly shared.”

It added: “Aqua 1 is backed by a group of long-term, mission-aligned partners & led by #DaveLee & a global team with deep expertise in web3 & digital asset infrastructure.” Aqua 1 did not respond to a detailed set of questions….

Yet a review by Reuters of corporate registries, #Aqua1Foundation’s digital profile & other public information reveal almost nothing about the source of its capital or the person it named as its founding partner, #DaveLee.

Reuters could not find a way of contacting Lee directly. An Aqua 1 press release, which was published on Reuters.com as sponsored content, listed an email for a person named Dora Lee as a media contact.

@benroyce Better that their #DarkMoney be spent on defense.

Ogle said he received a call this week from someone involved w/the dinner laying out the rules, including that no cameras or journalists would be allowed into the event to protect attendees’ privacy. He said he would only remove his mask once the gala’s doors were closed.

Ogle worked as an adviser for #Trump’s #crypto venture #WorldLibertyFinancial that recently said its crypto coin would be used in a $2B transaction involving #Binance & state-backed #UAE investment firm #MGX.

A #crypto investor known as Ogle, who made No. 22 on the leader board with over 250,000 #Trump #memecoin worth about $3.2 million, told WaPo he believed criticism of the dinner was “goofy” given that political figures solicit money in exchange for access all the time.

Ogle, known in the crypto world for his work in recovering stolen crypto funds, has for years concealed his name & face in public, wearing glasses, a hat & a mask.

…Among the buyers whose true IDs remain unknown—making it impossible to know what kinds of business they might discuss with a man who has called himself “the first crypto president”—is a #crypto trader known on X as ZielonoMi. ZieloniMi declined an interview request but posted a screenshot of a congratulations email sent to the top 220 #Trump coin holders & wrote, in Polish, “I never expected that I could have #access to this type of action.”