LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) filed a complaint with California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) today over what appears to be the porn industry’s payment of a $61,500 fine for illegal foreign campaign contributions in 2012—with another illegal foreign campaign contribution.
The FPPC fine was levied against the ‘No on Government Waste, No on Measure B’ campaign committee and Diane Duke, then Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition, the adult industry producers’ trade group. The fine was for illegal foreign contributions made to their 2012 campaign against Measure B, the County of Los Angeles Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act, which requires porn producers in the County to obtain public health permits and use condoms in films. AHF was the principal backer of Measure B, which passed in November 2012 with 57% of the vote.
AHF filed complaints with both the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and California’s Fair Political Practices Commission. The FPPC investigated, and fines were levied against Duke and the FSC’s campaign committee. In December 2015 a Stipulation, Decision and Order was entered into. However, MindGeek, a subsidiary of MindGeek S.A.R.L., a foreign company based in Luxembourg—which was formerly known as Manwin—paid the fine, making yet another illegal foreign campaign contribution.
In 2012, Manwin & Froytal Services, Ltd., foreign porn producers operating in Luxembourg and Cypress, respectively, illegally contributed over $268,000 to the adult film industry’s unsuccessful ‘No on B’ campaign. The Free Speech Coalition and its then head, Diane Duke, spearheaded the ‘No’ campaign.
“Effectively, MindGeek used foreign funds to absolve itself and its agents—i.e., Diane Duke and the Free Speech Coalition’s ‘No on Government Waste, No on Measure B’ committee—from their violations of illegally injecting foreign money into our political system in 2012—with another illegal foreign campaign contribution in December 2015,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), and one of the five named proponents of Measure B. “There is little difference between MindGeek’s actions and a convicted embezzler who uses embezzled funds to pay off a fine for embezzlement.”
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 588,000 individuals in 35 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare.
