(f) 52 U.S.C. § 30122: Prohibition on contributions through conduits Section 30122 makes it unlawful for any person to make a contribution in the name of another, or for any person to permit his or her name to be used to make such a contribution. The statute also prohibits any person from knowingly accepting a contribution made by one person in the name of another. The conduit statute is one of FECA’s most frequently violated prohibitions. It was challenged and upheld in United States v. O’Donnell, 608 F.3d 546 (9th Cir. 2010). This is because it prohibits conduct that is often used by perpetrators to disguise other campaign financing violations, such as contributions over the Act’s limits in violation of Section 30116, or from prohibited sources in violation of Section 30118 or Section 30121. Section 30122 violations occur when a person gives money to straw donors, or conduits, for the purpose of having the conduits pass the funds on to a specific federal candidate as their own contributions. The motive is typically to preserve the true donor’s anonymity and aggregate contribution amount, as the ostensible contributions will be reported publicly as having been made by the straw donors. A common type of conduit scheme involves a corporate official who instructs the corporation’s employees to make contributions to a federal candidate, and then reimburses the employees from corporate funds generally through fictitious bonuses or pay raises. In so doing, illegal corporate funds are laundered to the candidate in violation of both Sections 30122 and 30118. As discussed previously, to be subject to prosecution as a FECA crime, the act must be knowing and willful. Laundering campaign contributions through straw donors is persuasive evidence of the Act’s willful intent element. 141