Seth Magaziner Continues to Refuse to Answer Where He Got $800,000 to Fund His Campaigns
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Seth Magaziner loaned his campaign account $800,000 for his first campaign — running for Rhode Island General Treasurer in 2014.
Since then, GoLocalProv and other Rhode Island media companies have repeatedly asked Magaziner what was the source of those funds. Opponents have asked and raised the question if those funds were legally transferred, and yet Magaziner continues to give a range of explanations — always vague.
He has never told Rhode Islanders nor the media who gave him the money. His campaign did pay him back $100,000. According to campaign finance reports show his account still owes Magaziner $701,500.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMagaziner, at the time of the loans, had only had two jobs after graduating from college.
Directly after graduating from Brown University, Magaziner became an elementary school teacher for two years and later joined Trillium Asset Management. He worked at Trillium for two years and three months and according to disclosure forms filed by Magaziner with the Rhode Island Ethics Commission, he’d earned less than $100,000 at Trillium.
Seth is the son of former advisor to President Bill Clinton, Ira Magaziner.
Seth Magaziner is now running for Congress in the second congressional district and is de facto moving monies from his state to his federal campaign account.
In October of 2022, GoLocal asked Magaziner’s campaign what the source of the $800,000 — specifically asking if it was a family gift or provided by a third party.
His campaign refused to respond to repeated questions about the source of the funds. His spokesperson Patricia Socarras said in an email response, "The Treasurer made a personal loan in 2014 at the start of his first campaign and the entirety of those funds were spent for that election." She refused to disclose the source of those monies.
Moving Money from One Campaign Account to Another
Magaziner’s campaign has been carrying more than $700,000 outstanding debt for seven years, according to the RI Campaign Finance Division of the Board of Elections.
Magaziner has told different news organizations different stories at different stories about the same monies.
He has never disclosed the source of the funds.
Magaziner has told different news organizations different stories at different times about the same monies -- see reports below from GoLocalProv, the Providence Journal and WPRI.
GoLocal sent the following questions to Patricia Socarras, the spokesperson for Magaziner's press spokesperson on Sunday, May 15:
Tomorrow GoLocal is publishing a story about all the different responses that Seth Magaziner and his spokespeople have offered over the past 8 years regarding the $800,000 in loans.
Just wanted to see if you could give a direct response as to what the sources of the funds -- $800,000 -- that was loaned to his campaign.
Who provided the money?
If there is more than one funding source, please break down the amount each provided?
Were the monies gifts or loans?
What was the date (s) on which the money was transferred to Magaziner?
Thank you -
Socarras did not respond to GoLocal's questions. But sent an email, with the following statement, "The Treasurer has answered this question clearly on numerous occasions with media outlets including yours. The Treasurer has been transparent in saying he is fortunate that his family has been generous to him over the years, primarily through the annual gift tax exemption and he used those funds to make a contribution to his campaign when he ran for Treasurer 8 years ago."
Magaziner's campaign repeatedly refused to respond to follow-up questions regarding who gave him the funds and when they were given.
Here Is a List of Press Articles and Magaziner's Response Over the Past 8 Years
The Almonte for Treasurer campaign submitted a letter to the Rhode Island Board of Elections asking the agency to look into the source of Seth Magaziner’s campaign funds and to determine whether or not they comply with campaign finance laws and regulations.
The letter cites Magaziner’s ethics disclosure, which shows no real estate holdings, no trust funds, no investments of any kind, and reports his salary from Trillium Asset Management between $50,001 and $100,000 as his sole source of income.
Evan Petrone, campaign manager for independent candidate Ernie Almonte for General Treasurer, called on the Magaziner campaign to make public the source of $550,000 in “personal” loans made to the campaign.
“With just four weeks left before the election, Rhode Island voters deserve to know the source of these funds,” said Petrone. “Mr. Magaziner has been asked publicly, several times, where the money came from and has refused to answer. We think it’s important to know who is funding his campaign.”
“Mr. Magaziner says he’ll be transparent with taxpayer money if elected treasurer. How can voters trust what he says if he won’t be transparent with his campaign finances?”
Magaziner's campaign did not respond.
Financial disclosures filed with the state Ethics Commission show that Seth Magaziner, candidate for state general treasurer, earned between $50,001 and $100,000 last year.
Campaign finance reports filed with the state Board of Elections show that he loaned his campaign $550,000, including $500,000 in five separate cash infusions in August.
Where did someone making that income have that kind of money to loan his campaign?
“Seth’s filings have been timely, accurate and complete,” Magaziner campaign manager Evan England said in response to that question in an email to The Providence Journal. “Attempting to attack Seth by suggesting otherwise is unfounded and desperate. Like many candidates, Seth has made a personal investment in his campaign. He has also received more than 1,400 contributions from Rhode Islanders who believe in his candidacy and want a change in government. Seth looks forward to bringing that change to the State House.”
When asked whether Magaziner, a Democrat, was hiding something, England responded:
“Like many candidates, Seth is fortunate to have the means to make a personal loan to his campaign, and all of Seth’s filings have been timely, accurate and complete. Seth is grateful to have received more than 1,400 contributions from Rhode Islanders who know he will bring new ideas and a renewed focus on economic growth to the State House. Our opponent is trying to manufacture controversy where none exists, in an attempt to distract from the serious issues facing Rhode Islanders. Seth knows he can make a difference as treasurer and use the office to put Rhode Islanders back to work.”
“Our opponent” refers to unaffiliated candidate Ernest A. Almonte, who first raised questions similar to The Journal’s.
“With just four weeks left before the election, Rhode Island voters deserve to know the source of these funds,” Evan Petrone, Almonte’s campaign manager, said in an email to The Journal. “Mr. Magaziner has been asked publicly, several times, where the money came from and has refused to answer. We think it’s important to know who is funding his campaign.”
Petrone added, “Mr. Magaziner says he’ll be transparent with taxpayer money if elected treasurer. How can voters trust what he says if he won’t be transparent with his campaign finances?”
Almonte’s campaign said it has asked the Board of Elections to investigate.
According to his financial disclosure with the Ethics Commission, which covers the 2013 calendar year, Magaziner was employed as a vice president at Trillium Asset Management LLC in Boston, where he made between $50,001 and $100,000.
The disclosure also shows that he was treasurer of Marriage Equality RI and a member of the board of Serve Rhode Island, Common Cause of RI and Crossroads RI, with no income reported for any of those positions. Candidates for state general offices are required to report income from any source that exceeds $200.
They are not, however, required to report many classes of financial assets they may hold, including savings accounts, shares in mutual funds and trust funds of which they are the beneficiary. In the case of trust funds, candidates are required to report money received from them in the calendar year in which the money was received.
Online records at the Board of Elections show that Magaziner loaned his campaign $50,000 on Dec. 31, 2013, $50,000 on Aug. 6, $200,000 on Aug. 12, $50,000 on Aug. 19, $100,000 on Aug. 21, and $100,000 on Aug. 28.
The online records indicate the campaign has not paid back any of this money as of Friday morning.
Almonte’s disclosure to the Ethics Commission shows he made between $100,001 and $200,000 in 2013 from Almonte Group LLC of Cranston and between $10,001 and $25,000 from K&E Realty LLC of Scituate.
Almonte’s campaign finance filings at the Board of Elections show that he loaned his campaign $50,000 on June 29, 2012; $500 on July 28, 2013; $410 on Aug. 12, 2013; and $4,266.05 on Sept. 10, 2013. They show that all of those loans have been repaid.
October 15, 2014, The Providence Journal Reported - Magaziner says money loaned to campaign came from job, ‘family money’
Magaziner says money loaned to campaign came from job, ‘family money’
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Seth Magaziner, the Democrat running for state general treasurer, told The Providence Journal Wednesday afternoon that $550,000 he loaned to his campaign came from earnings from his job and from “family money.”
Seth Magaziner, the Democrat running for state general treasurer, told The Providence Journal Wednesday afternoon that $550,000 he loaned to his campaign came from earnings from his job and from “family money.”
Filings with the state Ethics Commission show that Magaziner had reported earning $50,001 to $100,000 in 2013 as a vice president at Trillium Asset Management LLC in Boston, raising the question of how he accumulated the $550,000 he told the state Board of Elections he had loaned to the campaign.
“I’m very fortunate to come from the sort of background where I can make that kind of investment in my campaign,” Magaziner told The Journal.
He said that he had already been winding down his employment at Trillium in 2013 in anticipation of running for treasurer, so the $50,001 to $100,000 did not represent the amount he had made in other years.
The Journal and Magaziner’s opponent, independent candidate Ernie Almonte, had raised questions about the loans last week, and Magaziner’s campaign manager declined to address them directly.
On Wednesday, Magaziner called The Journal to to explain where the loan money had come from and to decry Almonte’s questioning of the loans.
“It’s an attempt to distract from the core issues of the office,” Magaziner said. “I want to bring the conversation back to what I think most voters care about, which is what are we going to do to get the state back on track.”
October 28, 2021, GoLocalProv - Magaziner Refuses to Disclose Source of $800K Loan, But Calls for Disclosure From Other Candidates
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Seth Magaziner is calling on the other candidates running for office to be transparent and disclose their five previous years' taxes. But, he is refusing to disclose the source of $800,000 that he lent his own campaign account.
Magaziner made the demand for the release of tax returns on Monday. Magaziner is one of five prominent Democrats running for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2022.
“Rhode Islanders deserve to have trust in their elected officials and we earn that trust by being transparent,” said Magaziner -- in talking about taxes. “Candidates in Rhode Island should follow the long-accepted custom that President Trump broke when he refused to release his tax returns. No one should ever have to guess who their elected officials are working for.”
However, Magaziner, who has served as Rhode Island’s General Treasurer and overseer of the $10 billion retirement fund, loaned his campaign $800,000 in the 2014 campaign and is refusing to disclose what was the source of those funds. His campaign still has an outstanding loan to back to Magaziner of more than $700,000.
At the time of the loans, Magaziner had only had two jobs after he graduated college -- and fewer than five years of work experience. What he did have was a family name and affluent parents. Seth is the son of Ira and Suzanne Magaziner -- his father is a top ally of former President Bill Clinton and a former head of The Clinton Foundation. His mother has served as the chair of Trinity Rep.
Directly after graduating from Brown University, Magaziner became an elementary school teacher for two years and later joined Trillium Asset Management. He worked at Trillium for two years and three months and according to disclosure forms filed by Magaziner with the Rhode Island Ethics Commission, he’d earned less than $100,000 at Trillium.
Questions about the monies have risen in the past, but now as a candidate for governor Magaziner is making transparency a major issue -- for the other candidates.
America's top financial whistleblower Ted Siedle is raising questions about Magaziner's lack of transparency.
"Magaziner has long stated that he is a national leader in transparency. Does he [legally] have to disclose the source of his campaign funds? Likely not. But a politician who claims to be a leader in transparency should strive to go above and beyond the legal requirements, in order to boost public confidence and build trust," said Siedle, who received the highest whistleblower award ever issued by the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission.
In 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced an award of approximately $30 million to "a whistleblower who voluntarily provided key original information that led to a successful enforcement action." GoLocal then earned that former SEC lawyer and Forbes columnist Siedle was the recipient of the award.
On Monday, GoLocal asked Magaziner’s campaign what was the source of the $800,000 — specifically asking if it was a family gift or provided by a third party. His campaign refused to respond to repeated questions about the source of the funds. His spokesperson Patricia Socarras only said in an email response, "The Treasurer made a personal loan in 2014 at the start of his first campaign and the entirety of those funds were spent for that election." She refused to disclose the source of those monies.
Magaziner’s campaign has been carrying more than $700,000 in outstanding debt for seven years, according to the RI Campaign Finance Division of the Board of Elections.
"Indeed, Rhode Islanders deserve no less than full transparency," added Siedle.
Nov. 18, 2021, WPRI's Newsmakers - Magaziner Says "I Come From a Well-Off Family"
Ted Nesi of WPRI asked Magaziner about the source of the funds. "I have answered this question before. I am very fortunate, it is no secret to come from a well-off family."
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