In January, Ted Cruz’s quest for the presidency got help from a limited liability company called V3 231. The LLC was listed as the source of a $250,000 donation to a super PAC supporting the conservative Republican senator from Texas. For anyone wondering what V3 231 is, or who controls it, there were few clues. A lawsuit filed in federal court mentions the company once owned a hotel in Brooklyn, N.Y. A search on the Internet reveals the name of the hotel’s now defunct developer. One of the developer’s former executives, reached on his mobile phone, says another man controls the LLC. That guy’s name, the former executive says, is Ben Nash.
Nash was a 17-year-old yeshiva student from Brooklyn when he discovered a knack for selling cell phones. He dropped out of school and eventually made a fortune reselling used or surplus phones. His company, PCS Wireless, is targeting $1 billion in sales this year, according to Business Insider. Now 32, Nash has grown wealthy enough to dabble in Brooklyn real estate and philanthropy. He picks up the phone right away when reached at his headquarters in suburban New Jersey. He allows that he had dinner with Cruz a few months back, but he says he doesn’t think he gave the candidate as much as $250,000. “We give to a lot of charity over here,” he says. He ends the call promising to investigate. “I do want to check, for my own personal interest.”
The next day, Nash’s spokesman, Robert Barletta, confirms that Nash was behind the $250,000 donation. In an e-mail, Barletta calls the donation “transparent and fully within federal campaign finance laws” and motivated by Cruz’s support for Israel.