by Felipe Marques and Bill Allison
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez received a $500,000 donation from an online flower shop that allegedly violated federal campaign financing laws, according to a complaint filed to the Federal Election Commission.
The 27-page complaint alleges “unknown persons” used PassionForest LLC, a less than year-old company that sells artificial flowers online, to conceal the true source of the contributions made to Suarez, according to the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group. The 45-year-old Republican mayor announced a long-shot presidential bid last month.
PassionForest operates mostly out of China, according to the complaint, suggesting “it may have been used to conceal illegal foreign national contributions.”
“PassionForest’s only known activity was selling artificial flowers on Amazon.com, supporting the conclusion that it could not have made a $500,000 contribution without someone else – the true contributor – providing it with funds for that purpose,” the Campaign Legal Center said in its complaint…
