From
Jurist:
A federal judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday sentenced Paul Magliocchetti, founder of the now-defunct political lobbying firm PMA Group, to 27 months imprisonment for his involvement in campaign finance improprieties spanning over five years. Magliocchetti was indicted in August and the following month pleaded guilty to charges of making illegal conduit and corporate contributions and making false statements. Between 2003 and 2008, Magliocchetti circumvented campaign finance regulations governing individual and corporate contributions by instructing friends, family and associates to make personal donations to specified candidates and reimbursing their expenses. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) contends that Magliocchetti funneled over $1 million to campaigns and political action committees in this manner, though Magliocchetti's confession admits to only $386,000 . In addition to confinement, US District Judge T.S. Ellis III also sentenced Magliocchetti to two years supervised release and ordered him to pay a fine of $75,000.
DOJ officials described Magliocchetti's collective activities as one of the largest campaign finance crimes in history, though stressed that the recipients were unaware of the funds' improper nature. Because of cases like Magliocchetti, pressure on politicians to be aware of where their campaign contributions come from has increased in recent years. In September 2009, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA), a law passed in 2007 that requires members of Congress to disclose more information about their fund-raising efforts and gifts they receive from lobbyists.
Why doesn't this douchebag have to pay back
all the money he funneled to his favorite congress critters?
