Sentencing postponed in federal corruption cases involving former Becerra aide
The sentencing date for two men who pleaded guilty to siphoning money from a campaign account belonging to gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra will be postponed for at least two months, court records show.
The corruption case, filed in federal court in Sacramento last November, shook the capital region and resulted in guilty pleas from Becerra’s former chief of staff, Sean McCluskie, as well as lobbyist Greg Campbell and Dana Williamson, a former campaign aide to Becerra and chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The case quickly became a talking point in the governor’s race, in which Becerra leads in several polls on the day of California’s primary election, and opponents have referenced it in debates and attack ads. Becerra was not charged in the case and prosecutors have said they view him as a victim.
Bank and wire fraud
Campbell, who pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, as well as conspiracy to defraud the United States, will be sentenced on Aug. 6 under an order issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley. McCluskie, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, will also be sentenced that day, an order by Nunley said.
The two had been scheduled for sentencing on June 4.
Williamson, who pleaded guilty in the case last month, is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
In their plea agreements, Williamson and the two men admitted to participating in a scheme to boost McCluskie’s salary by paying for a no-work job in the name of his wife — using funds from a dormant campaign account belonging to Becerra.
In addition to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, Williamson also pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return and lying to the FBI.
Money disguised
The scheme was set in motion after Becerra, then California’s attorney general, agreed to take a post in Washington, D.C., as former president Joe Biden’s secretary of health and human services. He asked McCluskie to join him as chief of staff.
But the federal job paid less than McCluskie’s California position, so he sought a way to increase his earnings, plea agreements for all three defendants said.
“McCluskie repeatedly sought the assistance of Williamson in funneling money from (Becerra’s) dormant state campaign account to McCluskie via text message, phone calls, and in-person meetings,” Williamson said in a statement of facts filed with her plea agreement.
Williamson helped to disguise the money as payments to McCluskie’s wife, who received about $10,000 per month, some of it subsidized with Williamson’s own funds, court documents say.
The group did not fully disclose their plans to Becerra, the indictment said. The three defendants did tell him that Williamson’s firm would be paid for work it was doing on behalf of the campaign account, and that McCluskie’s wife would be working for Williamson, the indictment said.
But they did not tell him that it would be a no-work job, the indictment said. Because her work would nominally have been in the field of communications, it would not have been legal anyway, because Becerra’s accounts could not be used for campaigning while he served as HHS secretary, the indictment said.
