An obscure nonprofit group that gave $100,000 to Donald Trump’s inaugural committee was bankrolled by an artificial intelligence company whose CEO was an unindicted co-conspirator in Trump’s election interference case in Georgia, the company’s president confirmed to The Intercept.

Unlike more established megadonors such as Boeing or the Heritage Foundation, however, the Institute for Criminal Justice Fairness was created only months ago and has little public profile beyond a barebones website.

The institute was funded by the startup Tranquility AI, according to company co-founder David Harvilicz, who has pitched Trump administration officials on using its software to speed up deportations of “illegals.”

The purpose of the institute’s donation to the inaugural fund, Harvilicz said, was “to meet people that were there who might be policymakers who would want to eventually attend some of our events. It was mostly to meet people.”

The company’s other co-founder is CEO James Penrose, a former National Security Agency leader who has drawn scrutiny — and a grand jury subpoena — for his role in Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

The donation from the Institute for Criminal Justice Fairness was among a slew of gifts to the Trump inaugural committee disclosed over the weekend. The inaugural committee pulled in a record $239 million haul.

The contribution highlights the loose rules that allowed nonprofits and corporations to make unlimited donations to the Trump inaugural committee, a situation that critics say creates the perception that donations can be used to curry favor with the administration.

“Because inaugural funds are very loosely regulated, they present an ideal, problematic opportunity for wealthy special interests to ingratiate themselves with an incoming presidential administration,” said Saurav Ghosh, the director for federal campaign finance reform of the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center. “This is........

© The Intercept