Andrew Yang’s speaking fees, including from JPMorgan, raise campaign finance questions: Experts
Months after announcing his bid for the presidency as a Democrat, entrepreneur and author Andrew Yang was paid for a number of speaking engagements, bringing in $94,000 between April 2018 and February 2019, his financial disclosure report shows.
Among the well-heeled clients paying for his appearances was JPMorgan Chase & Co., which paid $10,000 for five different events. Yang described the speaking engagements to ABC News as speeches about the subject matter of his book, "The War on Normal People," being presented to "leaders of various financial institutions."
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“There is an exception that's built into the law for internal communications, and that does allow a candidate to appear in an internal communication setting that a corporation can pay for,” said Scott Thomas, a former FEC Chairman and current head of Blank Rome’s political law practice. “The corporation has to limit the attendees basically to its own management officials, its executives and professional personnel.” Thomas said he provides campaign finance consulting to other presidential candidates.
Thomas said he’s consulted on past presidential campaigns.
“Andrew Yang’s speaking fees, including from JPMorgan, raise campaign finance questions: Experts,” by Armando Garcia, was published at ABC News on August 30, 2019.