With little more than two weeks before Oklahoma Republicans choose their nominee for governor, campaign finance records show Mike Mazzei’s campaign paid $67,500 to a consulting firm publicly tied to longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, who on Friday publicly referred to the candidate as “my client” following President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The payments predate President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Mazzei this week and establish a months-long financial relationship between the campaign and a company publicly tied to one of Trump’s most recognizable political allies.
Oklahoma Ethics Commission filings show Mazzei’s campaign paid Fort Lauderdale-based Drake Ventures LLC at least nine times between July 2025 and March 2026 for campaign management and advisory services. The reports show recurring payments of $7,500 and an aggregate total of $67,500 paid to the firm through March 2026.
While the campaign filings do not show payments made directly to Stone personally, they do document payments to Drake Ventures for what the campaign described as “Senior Campaign Advisor” and “Senior Campaign Manager” services.
Campaign reports show Drake Ventures received payments on July 23, Aug. 4, Sept. 4, Oct. 6 and Nov. 10 of 2025. Additional payments followed on Jan. 8, Jan. 27, Feb. 10 and March 30 of 2026, bringing the aggregate total to $67,500 and establishing a relationship that stretched for more than eight months before Trump’s endorsement.
The records do not identify the specific services performed beyond the campaign’s descriptions in the filings.
Stone connection emerges after endorsement
The connection drew renewed attention after Stone publicly identified Mazzei as a client following Trump’s endorsement.
“President Trump has endorsed my client Mike Mazzei for Governor of Oklahoma!” Stone wrote Friday on his verified X account.
The statement was notable because campaign records already showed an ongoing relationship between the Mazzei campaign and Drake Ventures, a Florida company publicly linked to Stone through corporate records, lobbying disclosures and other public filings.
Florida corporate records identify Drake Ventures LLC as an active company operating from the same Fort Lauderdale address listed in Mazzei’s campaign finance reports. The records list Nydia Bertran Stone, Roger Stone’s wife, as the company’s manager.
Public records identify Stone as a principal of Drake Ventures, while Florida corporate records list his wife as the company’s manager. The firm has also been described in national political reporting as a consulting and lobbying operation associated with the veteran Republican strategist.
The disclosure places a nationally known political operative with deep ties to the White House inside the orbit of an Oklahoma governor’s race that has become increasingly nationalized as candidates compete for conservative voters ahead of the June 16 Republican primary.
Longtime Trump ally
Stone has been a prominent figure in Republican politics for more than four decades, dating back to the Nixon administration. He later worked on campaigns for Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush before becoming one of Trump’s earliest political advisers and most visible outside allies.
His political career has also been marked by controversy.
In 2019, Stone was convicted on seven felony counts, including obstruction of a congressional investigation, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress. President Trump commuted Stone’s prison sentence in July 2020 and later granted him a full presidential pardon.
Stone has remained active in Republican politics since receiving the pardon and continues to be a vocal supporter of Trump.
The campaign finance records do not establish whether Stone personally performed services for the Mazzei campaign. They do, however, establish a documented financial relationship between the campaign and a firm publicly associated with him.
With Trump’s endorsement arriving in the closing weeks of the race, Stone publicly referring to Mazzei as a client and campaign records documenting $67,500 in payments to a Stone-linked firm, the relationship is likely to receive additional scrutiny as Oklahoma’s Republican primary enters its final days.
