Whatever the news surrounding Elon Musk, at least one organization still seems to favor companies formed in Delaware: the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump.
Committees associated with Donald Trump's reelection campaign have apparently funneled millions of dollars to a mysterious months-old company called Launchpad Strategies LLC whose owners and activities remain somewhat opaque, as first reported Monday by NBC News.
The company was formed late last year in Delaware, according to state business entity filings. Since then, FEC records show that two committees associated with former president Trump's campaign have pushed more than $3 million in campaign money to that company, for activities ranging from "digital marketing" to "online advertising."
Launchpad Strategies does not seem to have done work for any campaign other than Trump's campaign, according to NBC News.
So what's Launchpad Strategies? And what's former President Trump's history with Delaware LLCs? Here's what we know.
Launchpad Strategies LLC is registered at a condo in Dover, Delaware
Launchpad Strategies' ownership remains opaque, and so does its business. The company was formed as a Delaware LLC in November 2023 through a company called Registered Agent Solutions whose address is a beige office condo in Dover, according to Delaware state records. The condo's owners are a family trust in Phoenix, Arizona with a mailing address in the Florida panhandle.
Calls to the condo's owners were not immediately returned.
On Trump campaign filings, Launchpad's mailing address is listed at a P.O. box in Raleigh, North Carolina, where officials reported that no company by that name exists in that state.
The company's apparent website, launchpad-strategies.com, is a black screen on which the company's logo emerges from a carpet of animated clouds. The website's only feature, aside from that pixelated fog, is a malfunctioning contact form.
Launchpad's activities are 'online,' and unclear
Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee is the Trump campaign's main fundraising vehicle. And at $2.8 million, Launchpad Strategies appeared to receive more money than any entity other than the Trump campaign itself.
Aside from money delivered to the campaign, more than 10% of the Fundraising Committee's payouts to vendors went to Launchpad for services, which were listed as online advertising, digital consulting, and fundraising fees. Trump's campaign also directly paid Launchpad for digital consulting.
Trump's campaign called Launchpad “a digital advertising company that is primarily focused on our fundraising,” in statements to NBC News.
Why should anyone care about the opaque ownership of an obscure company few have heard of?
Election observers Campaign Legal Center, who issued an unsuccessful complaint against the 2020 Trump campaign over a lack of transparency on $500 million in funds, have called potential shell companies like Launchpad a red flag in an election process where money should be transparent.
“It’s concerning to see a company formed just six months ago suddenly receive over $3.1 million from Donald Trump’s network of political committees, particularly since there is virtually no public information about this company,”CLC legal director Saurav Ghosh told NBC News on Monday.
Trump has a long history of anonymous corporations and dealings in Delaware
The former president is, of course, no stranger to Delaware LLCs, nor Delaware courts.
In a manner of speaking, it was a Delaware transaction that helped lead to Trump's May fraud trial that ended with felony convictions surrounding purported "hush money" payments over relationships with p*rn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
More:Delaware dissolves shell companies created to pay off women by Trump-fixer Michael Cohen
Trump associate Michael Cohen created two Delaware LLCs, Essential Consultants LLC and Resolution Consultants LLC, reportedly with the intention of orchestrating hundreds of thousands in payments to Daniels and to the National Enquirer's parent company, in order to help keep those affairs quiet before the election.
In 2020, a state judge ordered the dissolution of the two companies created by Michael Cohen.
Federal grand jury indictments in 2016 stated that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump campaign official Rick Gates shielded from U.S. authoritiesmillions of dollars in payments from the Ukraine, using nine Delaware LLCs.
Trump Media, whose wildly volatile stock prices have the market's equivalent of tabloid fodder after the company's successful May IPO, was also formed as a Delaware corporation. A battle over the value of shares in that company played out in Delaware courts in March 2024, after a merger with a shell company.
Delaware, has, of course, also been a home for Trump's more intellectual assets. In 2016, Trump moved many of his best-known trademarks, including Trump Tower, the Trumptini and Mar-a-Lago, to a holding company in Delaware.
And, of course, Trump once sponsored a bike race called the Tour de Trump, in Delaware.
Matthew Korfhage is business and development reporter in the Delaware region covering all things related to land and money: openings and closings, construction, and the many corporations who call the First State home.Send tips and insults tomkorfhage@gannett.com.
