Campaign records show a $7,500 payment to Drake Ventures one day before its $375,000 contract with San Luis Potosí took effect.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Mike Mazzei’s campaign paid $7,500 to a consulting firm owned by Roger Stone and his wife one day before the firm began a $375,000 contract to represent the economic development agency of a Mexican state, records show.
The campaign reported paying Drake Ventures LLC on June 9 for services as a “Senior Campaign Advisor.” The payment brought its total paid to the firm to $82,500.
Stone signed the firm’s agreement with the Secretariat of Economic Development of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, on June 8. The Mexican official signed it June 10, when the contract took effect, according to documents filed with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Drake Ventures registered June 20 under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a federal disclosure law covering certain work on behalf of foreign interests.
The filings do not indicate that San Luis Potosí played any role in the Mazzei campaign or that any law was violated. The unanswered question is whether the campaign knew a senior adviser had signed an agreement to represent a foreign-government client, particularly as Mazzei emphasized foreign ownership in his campaign.
Firm to receive $375,000
The six-month agreement calls for Drake Ventures to provide public relations services involving trade and economic development, including work with U.S. government officials. Half of the $375,000 fee was due by June 25, with the remainder due Nov. 1.
The firm’s federal registration statement lists Stone as responsible for the work and says Drake Ventures is owned equally by Stone and his wife, Nydia Stone.
Oklahoma Politics Today reported in May that the campaign had paid Drake Ventures $67,500 over the previous nine months. The campaign reports described the firm’s work as senior campaign management and advisory services but did not identify the specific work performed.
The reports do not show payments to Stone personally. Stone publicly referred to Mazzei as “my client” after President Donald Trump endorsed Mazzei in May.
Campaign questioned about overlap
Mazzei has made foreign ownership of Oklahoma land a campaign issue. His campaign plan calls for prohibiting foreign governments and foreign-controlled companies from owning Oklahoma land and requiring greater disclosure of ownership structures.
Those proposals concern land ownership in Oklahoma, not consulting work performed for a foreign government.
The campaign was asked what it knew about the agreement, whether Drake Ventures or Stone still advises Mazzei and whether either worked on foreign ownership or the proposed Inola aluminum smelter.
It also was asked whether Mazzei sees a conflict between the firm’s two roles. The campaign did not respond.
