The Minnesota Independent has recently learned that Minnesota Teen Challenge returned the donation to Bachmann two weeks later.

“We didn’t want to be involved if it was dirty money,” Rich Scherber, executive director of Minnesota Teen Challenge, told MnIndy.

Bachmann’s close ties to Vennes became public before the election, when it was revealed that she had written a letter requesting a presidential pardon for the convicted money-launderer and drug-smuggler. She withdrew the letter when Vennes’ name became connected to the Petters multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme scandal. But she gave back only a portion of the tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions she has received from Vennes and his family since 2005.

Scherber says that when Bachmann’s office made the donation, it explained the connection between the campaign’s charitable contribution to them and Vennes’ campaign contributions to Bachmann.

“Some way (the explanation) either came with the check or they notified us beforehand,” recalls Scherber. “At that time, we were just concerned — this whole story with Petters broke, and we were concerned about what Frank Vennes’ role was at this point.”

Scherber’s staff brought the matter to the organization’s chairman, and he brought it before the board.

“The board had decided they weren’t going to take the check,” Scherber continues. “They sat on it for two weeks and we just returned the check.”

Minnesota Teen Challenge also had close ties to Vennes, who had been one of the charity’s board members. Vennes also was involved in the nonprofit Fidelis Foundation, which has served as a fiscal agent for — and donated millions of dollars to — many evangelical ministries and other religious organizations, including Minnesota Teen Challenge.

Vennes is alleged to have been used by Petters to lure primarily Christian organizations into investing in Petters’ companies through Metro Gem — one of Vennes’ companies — or through the Fidelis Foundation. Among those investors was Minnesota Teen Challenge, which allegedly lost $5.7 million in investments in Petters companies.

According to Gary Hansen, Vennes’ court-appointed receiver, because the money was donated to Bachmann before Vennes’ assets were seized, it remains the congresswoman’s to do with as she pleases. If Bachmann had chosen to return the $9,200 to Vennes, Hansen notes, the money would be added to the rest of his seized assets, which are being sold off to compensate victims for his alleged involvement in the multibillion-dollar Petters Ponzi scheme.

Bachmann Chief of Staff Michelle Marston says the $9,200 will likely be donated to R3, a collaborative of Christian recovery groups that includes Minnesota Teen Challenge.

Bachmann delayed disclosure

Rep. Bachmann failed to report the money being returned to her campaign until her first quarter 2009 campaign filing, a possible violation of Federal Election Commission rules.

The $9,200 — the same amount Vennes and his wife had contributed to Bachmann’s campaign in 2008 — did not show up on Bachmann’s pre-election, post-election or year-end quarterly FEC filings. According to federal rules, the returned contribution should have shown up on one of these reports if it was returned to Bachmann’s campaign in October, as Scherber claims.

Bachmann’s first quarter report shows that the Minnesota Teen Challenge donation was returned to the campaign on Jan. 1, 2009.

“We reported it properly,” says Bachmann staffer Marston. “We reported it when it was received.” Marston confirmed that the contribution was received on Jan. 1, and she could not explain the discrepancy with Scherber’s claim that the funds were sent back in October.

The FEC prescribes financial penalties for “a failure to make the required disclosures … at the time and in the manner prescribed” or for “a failure to include any of the information required to be shown by such disclosures or to show the correct information.”