Republican Ohio Sec. of State Frank LaRose speaks during an election night watch party, Nov. 8, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

According to campaign contribution fillings on the Ohio Secretary of State website, U.S. Senate candidate Frank LaRose’s campaign accepted a $5,000 campaign donation from James Batmasian, a convicted tax felon whom former president Donald Trump pardoned.

Batmasian is a real estate tycoon based in Boca Raton, Fla. who plead guilty in 2008 to felony charges of failing to pay the Internal Revenue Service $250,000 in federal withholding taxes from employees of his investment company. He was sentenced to and served eight months in federal prison in 2008, two years of probation upon his release and paid a fine of $30,000. After pleading guilty, Batmasian had his law license suspended by the Florida Supreme Court.

In 2020, Trump fully pardoned Batmasian for his crimes, but his reputation was still damaged. In 2019, Batmasian pledged to give away most of his wealth as a part of The Giving Pledge, a campaign founded by Bill Gates that encourages wealthy individuals to donate the majority of their wealth to charities. However, the organization’s website has yet to include his name in the list of contributors. In 2014, then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) canceled a fundraiser that Batmasian was slated to host at his home. A nonprofit that Batmasian founded also reportedly removed him from the organization’s board of directors.

The LaRose campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

In addition to accepting money from convicted felons, LaRose is closely associated with Ohio’s Issue 1, a ballot initiative that would increase the threshold of passage for future ballot initiatives from 50% to 60%. This is a tactic to circumvent a future citizen initiative that would protect reproductive rights in Ohio, which is a policy that the Republican-controlled legislature does not support despite the majority of Ohio voters wanting it. The Ohio Libertarian Party also filed a complaint to the U.S. office of Special Counsel Monday claiming that LaRose is violating the Hatch Act by using his position as Ohio Secretary of State to push for Issue 1’s passage.