Fundrasiers Scam in Cain's Name?

The Washington Times has this front page story about a fundraising operation that may be engaged in a possible con raising money for Herman Cain:

A felon once imprisoned for fraud is raising money in the name of Herman Cain and profiting off of it through a company he owns. It is the second group raising large amounts of Cain cash that has a history of collecting millions of dollars through politically charged mailings and spending hardly any of it on politics.

Draft Herman Cain is the latest from two California men who have raised tens of millions of dollars cashing in on causes such as breast cancer and illegal immigration, with little to show for it except payments to fundraisers and themselves, an analysis by The Washington Times shows.

In the last election cycle, the fundraising operation took in $3,800,000 but gave only $15,000 to actual candidates.

Ninety-two percent of the money raised by the Republican Majority Campaign last cycle went to an Arizona telephone fundraising firm known as Political Advertising, which has received $12 million from four little-known conservative groups in recent years, the analysis found.

One 94 year old man gave $45,000 to the fundraising group.  The fundraising effort is taking advantage of the fact that many Cain supporters have little exposure to politics or political fundraising operations:

It often is the same people giving to each of these seemingly unrelated groups, all connected to a few consultants and all of which spend little on politics, the analysis by The Times showed. The donors are not political powerhouses, but rather middle-class tea partyers, including those who only recently became acquainted with the political world. . . . The Times reported last month that another outside group run by former Base Connect officials called Americans for Herman Cain was sending solicitations that looked much like official Cain campaign materials.

Is this illegal?  Maybe, but quite possibly not.  Instead it is part of the world of political activism and direct marketing fundraising, and something many on the “sucker list” are wholly unfamiliar about.