UES Candidate To Return Money After 'Illegal' Donation Accusations

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A leading candidate for an Upper East Side State Assembly seat says he will return more than $10,000 in campaign donations from his brother's investment company after a report found that they far exceeded the legal limit.

Russell Squire, an attorney who serves as chair of Community Board 8, is one of five candidates running in the June primary for the 73rd District Assembly seat being vacated by Dan Quart.

Between December and January, shortly after Squire announced his candidacy, he received separate contributions totaling $20,000 from an LLC listed as "Tekmerion Capital GP" — the name of a prominent hedge fund founded by Squire's brother, Zachary Squire.

As New York Focus reported Monday, the donations run afoul of state law in at least three different respects. A 2019 law intended to curb corporate political spending limited corporate contributions at $5,000 per company during a calendar year — and further limited donations to Assembly candidates at $4,700 for the primary, and another $4,700 for the general election.

Meanwhile, the law also requires owners of an LLC to be identified by name if the donation is above $2,500 — a requirement that Squire's campaign also failed to meet.

John Conklin, a spokesperson for the state Board of Elections, confirmed the "potential overcontributions" in an email, saying Squire's campaign could resolve them by refunding the $10,600 in excess donations.

After initially telling New York Focus that it did not plan to return the donations, Squire's campaign manager told Patch later Monday that it would refund them, chalking the incident up to a misinterpretation of the law.

"A reading of the Board of Election’s own campaign finance rules can be construed as to allow LLC contributions for the primary and general elections, which would in turn cause no concern with the contributions raised by the campaign," campaign manager Jim Choi said in a statement. "Since the Board of Elections has clarified the interpretation, the campaign will be refunding the excess contribution. We appreciate this matter being brought to our attention."

Still, Squire's rivals were quick to seize on the news — fellow Assembly candidates Alex Bores, May Malik, Adam Roberts and Kellie Leeson all posted tweets either calling on Squire's campaign to return the donations, or criticizing its initial response.

"Candidates with illegal contributions should return them immediately," Bores said. "My fellow candidates should publicly reaffirm their commitment to campaign finance rules."

Before Monday, Squire's campaign had hardly tried to keep the donations under wraps — the campaign touted its "massive" fundraising haul following its first campaign disclosure in January. Besides the Tekmerion contributions, the campaign also received a $100,000 loan from Squire himself, and a $13,129 donation from another relative, Walter Squire.