Since federal disclosure “requirements” have turned into fun games in which super PAC donors find the cleverest way to hide their real identities, investigative minds like those at The New York Times have started digging. And today, they turned something up.

Although donors have the ludicrous option to funnel money through shell corporations with ambiguous names and no physical addresses, one such group, “Paumanok Partners L.L.C.,” has been traced to an actual person. “Paumanok” gave $250,000 to the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future in July.

According to the Times, “The man who appears to be behind the donation, or at least closely linked to it, is William Laverack Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Laverack Capital Partners, a private investment firm. He is also identified as a senior adviser to Tiger Infrastructure, a private equity firm that invests in businesses in sectors like power, waste and transportation, founded by Julian Robertson and Emil W. Henry in 2009. Mr. Robertson donated $1 million to Restore Our Future in November.”

You can read NYT’s full coverage of this case here. And this is only the start. The fight to unearth entrenched corporate influence in politics will be a major challenge in the coming elections, and everyone needs to pitch in. If you find interesting information on the identities of donors who have attempted to avoid scrutiny, we'd like to hear about it. Email us at info@progressivesunited.org.