Father of McConnell’s 2014 Democratic Challenger Indicted for Illegal Donations
Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes’ dad indicted for funneling nearly $200,000 to her campaign
The father of the Democratic candidate who lost to Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in 2014 was indicted Friday for illegally funneling nearly $200,000 to his daughter’s campaign to pay for various services.
Federal prosecutors in Lexington, Kentucky, secured indictments against Gerald Lundergan, a state Democratic party powerhouse and the father of 2014 Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes, on 10 total charges: one count of conspiracy, one count of making corporate campaign contributions, four counts of causing the submission of false statements to the FEC, and four counts of causing the falsification of documents with the intent to obstruct and impede a matter within the FEC’s jurisdiction, according to the charging document.
McConnell defeated Grimes by 16 points in the election.
Grimes is now Kentucky’s secretary of state.
Lundergan used funds from his own company to pay for “audio-video production, lighting, recorded telephone calls, and campaign consulting between July 2013 and December 2015,” the Justice Department alleged in a press release Friday.
Lundergan and the campaign vendor to whom he made the payments, who was also indicted Friday, concealed their arrangement from officials on the campaign, causing the campaign to file financial records to the Federal Election Commission, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors from the DOJ Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and the Eastern District of Kentucky will prosecute the case.