Tarrant commissioner’s finance report appears to list illegal contribution

A day after the Star-Telegram inquired about an apparently illegal campaign donation, the office of Tarrant County Commissioner Manny Ramirez said the filing in the report had been recorded incorrectly and that the error had been fixed.

However, the report still attributes the contribution to a corporation and the check Ramirez’s office provided to the Star-Telegram is labeled as being from the donor’s business account.

In the report, the $25,000 contribution is attributed to Centurion American Development Group, an assumed name of Centurion American Custom Homes Inc., according to records found on the Texas Secretary of State’s website.

The Texas Election Code prohibits corporations from making political donations directly to candidates, and this contribution appears to violate that law, according to campaign law experts.

The treasurer on Ramirez’s report is Dee Kelly, a lawyer with the Fort Worth firm Kelly Hart. Kelly told the Star-Telegram that the report was inaccurately recorded and has been corrected. He declined to comment further.

Afterward, Ramirez’s office said the contribution came from the company’s CEO Mehrdad Moayedi in his personal capacity. Tracey Knight, Ramriez’s chief of staff, said in a text message it was “mistakenly filed with the incorrect name but the contribution came from a personal account.”

She sent a scanned image of the check, which says “business account” below Moayedi’s name. Not fully redacted, the text below this appears to be the address for Centurion American Development Group. Knight did not immediately respond to texts pointing this out.

A public relations representative for Centurion American responded to a follow-up email 24 hours after the Star-Telegram initially contacted her. She asked the paper to “hold momentarily” just before 1 p.m., but did not respond to emails, calls or text messages before publication more than three hours later.

The check is signed by Laura Wayland. A LinkedIn account with that name says Wayland works as an executive assistant at Centurion American Development Group.

Making a contribution with a check from a business account for a corporation violates state campaign finance law, according to Susan Hays, an Austin-based attorney who is board certified in campaign and legislative law.

Can companies donate to political campaigns in Texas?

The Texas Election Code prohibits corporations from making political donations directly to candidates.

Certain companies can make political contributions, including limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships and limited partnerships, Hays said.

“That’s an illegal contribution,” she said in a phone interview, referring to the donation from Centurion American.

A search for “Mehrdad Moayedi” in the Secretary of State’s business organizations database returns over 930 entities in various states of activity, including a number of LLCs. A search for “Centurion American Development Group” brings up five entities, two of which remain active. One of those is an LLC, but the assumed name it uses is “Centurion American Hospitality Group.” That company, Refined Hospitality Concepts, LLC , has a different address from the one on the check.

Corporations can make political donations via political action committees, or PACs, or by having executives and employees make contributions in their personal capacities, according to Mark Jones, a political science fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Four of the contributions on the report were made by PACs. One was made by a limited partnership and another by a law firm, both of which are permissible under Texas law.

“You can distribute it out in a way that is less obvious and in some ways makes it tougher to tie it to the company as directly,” Jones said in an interview. “What they’re really saying here is that the company supports Commissioner Ramirez. … It suggests that Commissioner Ramirez being in office provides some type of economic or financial benefit to the company.”

A donation from a corporation is a third-degree felony, according to the Election Code.

The burden of responsibility falls on the donor, Jones said, as a corporation should know the law about making political contributions. The “next line of defense” is the campaign treasurer, who should review each contribution to ensure it complies with the law, Jones said.

Company CEO has donated to Ramirez

In late 2023, Ramirez received $35,000 in donations from Mehrdad Moayedi, CEO of Centurion American Custom Homes, Inc.

The Tarrant County Commissioners Court later awarded Centurion American a $200 million public improvement district, or PID, along Bonds Ranch Road, just north of the Fort Worth city limits. The Star-Telegram investigation found that Moayedi has a history in the Metroplex of unfinished projects, years-long delays, alleged faulty construction and alleged involvement in a securities fraud scheme.

Ramirez told the Star-Telegram then that he had researched Moayedi before the vote on the public improvement district and was told he had “a great reputation in the industry.” He had not heard of Moayedi’s alleged involvement in a Ponzi scheme and other issues with his work, Ramirez said.