Jason Pallante

A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., returned an indictment yesterday charging Jason Pallante, 52, of Orlando, Florida, with defrauding political donors by operating numerous political fundraising websites that fraudulently promised to support presidential candidates and instead using the money he raised to enrich himself. According to the indictment, Pallante operated the America Great PAC, purportedly a Super PAC able to receive unlimited contributions to finance independent expenditures and other independent political activity. During the 2023 — 2024 presidential primary season, Pallante created dozens of websites that claimed to support various specific candidates for president. Pallante allegedly designed these websites to appear affiliated with a particular candidate or campaign, such as by using photos of the candidate, first-person language, and the same font as the candidate’s campaign. Pallante also accepted checks made out directly to presidential candidates or their campaigns. Pallante directed all of the contributions to America Great PAC. According to the indictment, Pallante raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from these websites and did not use any of the money to support the advertised presidential candidates. Instead, Pallante allegedly used contributions to perpetuate the scheme and to pay himself more than $162,000 in 2023 and $334,000 in 2024. Pallante is charged with three counts of mail fraud and four counts of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.