Jesse R. Benton, Concealing Campaign Expenditures, Iowa 2012
Three Members of 2012 Presidential Campaign Staff Guilty of Concealing Campaign Expenditures to State Senator
A federal jury in Des Moines, Iowa, has convicted three members of a 2012 presidential campaign committee of concealing campaign expenditures made to secure the endorsement of an Iowa State Senator.
According to the indictment, former Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson initially supported one candidate in the 2012 presidential election, but between October and December 2011, negotiated with the defendants to switch his support to their candidate in exchange for money.
The defendants, Jesse R. Benton, 38, of Louisville, Kentucky, and John M. Tate, 53, of Warrenton, Virginia, were convicted of conspiracy, causing false records to obstruct a contemplated investigation, causing the submission of false campaign expenditure reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and engaging in a scheme to make false statements to the FEC.
Dimitrios N. Kesari, 50, of Leesburg, Virginia, was convicted of the same offenses, except causing false campaign expenditure reports, for which he was previously convicted by a jury in a separate trial in October 2015.
The campaign expenditures to Sorenson were made in monthly installments of approximately $8,000 each and ultimately amounted to over $70,000. The defendants concealed the payments by causing them to be recorded – both in campaign accounting records and in FEC filings – as campaign-related audio-visual expenditures, and by causing them to be transmitted to a film production company and then to a second company that was controlled by Sorenson.
On August 27, 2014, Sorenson pled guilty to causing a campaign committee to falsely report its expenditures to the FEC and to obstruction of justice. He has not yet been sentenced.
Chief Judge John A. Jarvey of the Southern District of Iowa will schedule sentencing for a later date.
Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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