The company had offered to support his campaign with posters in his constituency in the north of Essen. Again, the agency said the costs were covered, but not by whom. Reil gave Goal AG a "permission to use" and sent photos of himself to Switzerland. In June 2017 Pretzell received a direct payment of an amount of €28,037. The money was used to support an election campaign event in for the 2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election in Düsseldorf. Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) also gave a speech at the event. Under German law, the payment could constitute a donation prohibited by the party cct. Pretzell stated that the Düsseldorf meeting was not a party event. The links between Pretzell and the advertising agency "Goal AG" also call into question the AfD's statement that it does not know who is behind the multi-million dollar supporters' association. Similar direct links between AfD and Goal AG also existed during the Baden-Württemberg state election campaign.