American Made Media Consultants was born out of a different scandal: rampant accusations that Parscale had been enriching himself off Trump's reelection bid.
In February 2018, Trump and Kushner elevated Parscale, the digital-communication mastermind of Trump's 2016 election victory, to campaign manager.
One month later, a small team of campaign staff met with Trump's coterie of lawyers at the Jones Day law firm, the person familiar with the founding of AMMC said. The Jones Day lawyers, some of whom had worked on Mitt Romney's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, said they had an idea for Parscale.
Romney had relied on a pass-through company, American Rambler, to make the most expensive purchases of his campaign: TV ads.
Ben Ginsberg a Republican superlawyer who recently retired from Jones Day, the Trump campaign's preferred law firm suggested Parscale and his team try the same. One month later, Kushner signed off on a plan to have Trump's family and campaign staff run the shell company, the person familiar with AMMC's operations said. American Made Media Consultants was formally incorporated on April 18, 2018, according to Delaware incorporation records.
In an email Thursday, Ginsberg declined to comment. "Can't help you with this," he said. In recent weeks, Ginsberg has sharply criticized Trump.
Delaware has long been one of the best places in the US to hide corporate arrangements.
But that could change, as Congress earlier this month passed a corporate-transparency measure directed at combating financial crimes, both domestic and foreign.
The measure is part of the veto-proof National Defense Authorization Act and would require anonymous shell companies including limited liability companies such as American Made Media Consultants to disclose their real owners to the US Treasury Department.
On the afternoon of January 20, the Treasury Department will fall under Biden's control.