As a life long bookkeeper/accounting person what bothers ME the most is that the fine only amounted to 30% of the money illegally obtained.
IF I stole $1 Million & I only got punished by having to pay back $300,000 & I got to keep $700,000, I would be sorely tempted. No jail time-—just a fine.
How many of us would think the same way???
Isn’t it a fine on top of having to return the donations? Otherwise, you are right, you would have to be stupid not to take the donations.
I mean, it’s not illegal for foreigners to just pay a candidate directly a salary, and then the candidate could use that money to self-finance a campaign. Of course you would have to pay income taxes on that and it would be in the top bracket. So you would still be better off going the illegal contribution route and paying the fine, since it would be lower than your tax bill.