Herschel Walker may have made some serious campaign-finance mistakes during his turbulent 2022 campaign for a seat in the Georgia Senate.
According to a new report by the daily beast, The University of Georgia football hero asked a high-profile donor to send a political donation directly to his personal company HR Talent, LLC in March 2022, potentially violating campaign finance laws.
Emails obtained and verified by the site show Walker asking representatives for businessman Dennis Washington to wire $535,200 directly to the LLC, which the LLC was never disclosed to Federal Electoral Commission.
After the money was transferred, a third party told the businessman’s company, The Washington Companies, that the money should not be used for political purposes.
Tim McHugh — executive vice president of Washington Corporations, an offshoot of Washington’s company — reached out to Walker’s team in a November 2022 email, reminding the campaign that political donations through the campaign or through the Walker-affiliated super PAC 34N22 have to go.
“We need your support to correct the contributions made to the HR talent account in March,” it said. According to records, Walker did not address the issue in his email response.
It’s unclear if HR Talent returned the funds to Washington, but FEC documents and sources who spoke to The Daily Beast appear to show the money was never diverted to its super PAC.
According to FEC filings, the candidate made no personal contributions to his campaign, suggesting that funds were not diverted to his campaign through HR Talent either.
Legal experts who spoke to The Daily Beast called Walker’s actions “unprecedented,” “stunning,” and “gorgeous.”
Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance specialist and deputy executive director of the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation, told the website, “There is no legal way this could have happened.”
Walker’s scandal-plagued candidacy for the post ended in December 2022 when Rev Raphael Warnock was re-elected by a 2.8% margin, Consolidation of the Democrat majority with 51 seats in the Senate.
During Walker’s campaign, several women accused the pro-life candidate of domestic violence or paying for their abortions.
