Merchan’s political donations were on July 26, 2020.
July 10, 2020 was the day the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump did not have Presidential immunity from investigations and indictments by state prosecutors.
In 2023 34 judges received written warnings for forbidden political contributions. See https://cjc.ny.gov/Publications/AnnualReports/nyscjc.2024Annualreport.pdf . That included complaints from 2022-23. The report suggests that judges were confused about whether contributions to out-of-state candidates were forbidden and about the time window allowed for contributions by judges seeking election. In Merchan’s case, there is no allowance at all since he has never faced election.
Authentic Campaigns was launched in 2018 by Loren Merchan and Mike Nellis and and received a bunch of awards for their work with Adam Schiff and Kamala Harris in 2020. See https://medium.com/@Authentic_HQ/authentic-campaigns-wins-eight-awards-at-the-2020-pollies-more-than-any-other-digital-firm-daaef745b442
Mike Nellis was involved in the BArack Obama campaign and relies on AI for results. See https://www.inspiredinsider.com/mike-nellis-interview/