HuffPost: Mike Bloomberg Lays Off Entire Campaign Staff And Scales Back Election Spending Plans

But this massive donation, plus the stated transfer of resources, raises significant concerns about whether Bloomberg is violating federal laws limiting campaign contributions from individuals to political parties.

As an individual donor, Bloomberg can only donate $355,000 to the DNC per year. That includes one $35,500 donation to the party’s main campaign account and three donations of $106,500 to separate accounts for legal, building and convention accounts. But candidate committees, like Bloomberg’s presidential campaign, are technically allowed to make unlimited transfers to the political party committees they are affiliated with.

Bloomberg’s campaign presents “novel challenges” because it was funded entirely with his own money, according to Beth Rotman, campaign finance expert at Common Cause, a nonpartisan good government nonprofit. This makes the $18 million donation through his campaign look like a new way to evade the contribution limits put in place to deter corruption and ensure equality in political campaigns.

“It’s very troubling that Bloomberg appears to be evading the federal contribution limits of an individual to a party committee,” Rotman said.

Common Cause is considering filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission challenging this donation.