Company Mysteriously Disappears After Giving $1 Million to Romney

The contribution raises questions about loose campaign finance rules

A mysterious company funneled $1 million into a Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney and then dissolved just months later, reports NBC News's Michael Isikoff.  The contribution represented one of the largest donations of this election cycle and, according to Isikoff, "provides a vivid example of how secret campaign cash is being funneled in ever more circuitous ways into the political system." The firm W Spann LLC, formed by Boston estate tax lawyer Cameron Casey, dissolved in July after being formed in March. In between that period it made a $1 million contribution to the Super PAC Restore Our Future started by former Romney aides. Though it's listed as being located in a midtown Manhattan office building, that location has no record of it being a tenant. Casey, who filed W Spann's incorporation papers, specializes in "wealth transfer strategies," is an associate at Ropes & Gray's whose longtime client is Bain Capital, an investment firm formally run by Romney. The former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission Lawrence Noble was mystified. “I don’t see how you can do this,” he told Isikoff. “There is a real issue of it being just a subterfuge.” Meanwhile, the Restore Our Future's campaign treasurer says it's not doing anything illegal. “Restore Our Future has fully complied with, and will continue to comply with, all FEC disclosure requirements.”