Chuck Darwin<p>Tim Scott's <a href="https://c.im/tags/Dark" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Dark</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Money" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Money</span></a> operation:</p><p>According to F.E.C. filings last week, the Tim <a href="https://c.im/tags/Scott" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Scott</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/campaign" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>campaign</span></a> made $4.3 million in payments from April 1 to June 30 to a company called <a href="https://c.im/tags/Meeting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Meeting</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Street" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Street</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Services" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Services</span></a> L.L.C. </p><p>The money included $2.8 million for “placed media” and more for digital fund-raising, strategy and video production.</p><p>Meeting Street Services has no online presence, and has not been paid by any other campaign, records show. Its listed <a href="https://c.im/tags/address" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>address</span></a>, in North Charleston, S.C., is a <a href="https://c.im/tags/Staples" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Staples</span></a> store. Records show that the company was set up in Delaware in August 2022, and its incorporation documents list only one name — <a href="https://c.im/tags/Barry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Barry</span></a> M. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Benjamin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Benjamin</span></a> — as an authorized representative.</p><p>According to business records in South Carolina, the company is managed by <a href="https://c.im/tags/AMZ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AMZ</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Holdings" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Holdings</span></a> L.L.C., a company set up in May 2021 and based at the same Staples store in North Charleston. </p><p>AMZ’s Delaware incorporation documents were also signed by Mr. Benjamin.</p><p>Mr. Scott’s campaign did not provide information about Mr. Benjamin or further details about the companies. Efforts to independently determine Mr. Benjamin’s identity were unsuccessful.</p><p>There are several notable <a href="https://c.im/tags/absences" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>absences</span></a> in the campaign’s second-quarter campaign finance disclosure filing, including <a href="https://c.im/tags/Targeted" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Targeted</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Victory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Victory</span></a>, a major political fund-raising firm that has said it works for the campaign, and <a href="https://c.im/tags/FP1" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FP1</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Strategies" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Strategies</span></a>, a political advertising firm, which was also reportedly brought on by the campaign. </p><p>Several people from the two firms who are working for the campaign also do not appear in the disclosure.</p><p>Mr. Scott’s use of Meeting Street Services L.L.C. predates his entry into the presidential race. In the last four months of 2022, his Senate campaign paid the company more than $4.5 million, filings show, for television ads, digital fund-raising and other consulting.</p><p>And his presidential campaign reported an additional $1 million spent with Meeting Street Services in the first quarter of this year, even though his campaign had not officially begun.</p><p>The Scott campaign also made more than $940,000 in payments last quarter to <a href="https://c.im/tags/Advanced" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Advanced</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Planning" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Planning</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Logistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Logistics</span></a>, a limited liability company set up in December 2022 — again, by Mr. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Benjamin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Benjamin</span></a> — and whose listed address is a Staples store in Fairfax, Va. </p><p>The company received multiple payments for air travel and event production. Again, Mr. Scott’s campaign was the only campaign that paid the company</p><p><a href="https://c.im/@cdarwin/110793002153370417" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">c.im/@cdarwin/1107930021533704</span><span class="invisible">17</span></a></p>