Florida Man Indicted for Federal Election Violations
|U.S. Department of Justice January 22, 2013|
WASHINGTON—A two-count superseding indictment was unsealed today in the Northern District of Florida charging a Florida resident with providing campaign contributions in the names of others and causing a presidential campaign committee to make a false statement to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Robert O. Davis, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
Jay Odom, 56, of Destin, Florida, was charged in federal court in the Northern District of Florida with one count of providing campaign contributions in the name of another and one count of causing another to make false statements to the FEC.
The indictment alleges that in 2007, Odom directly or indirectly used personal funds aggregating more than $10,000 to reimburse individual contributions to the authorized campaign committee of a presidential candidate. As a result, Odom allegedly caused the authorized campaign committee of that presidential candidate to file reports with the FEC that falsely stated that certain individuals had made federal campaign contributions when in fact each contribution was made by Odom. According to the indictment, Odom was aware of the maximum donation that could be made by an individual to the campaign, and he knowingly devised a scheme to funnel his own money through the names of others in order to conceal from the FEC the true source and amount of the campaign contribution.
The charge of causing another person to make a false statement to the FEC carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The charge of providing campaign contributions in the name of another carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
The charges in the indictment are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The superseding indictment results from an investigation by the FBI. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall J. Hensel and Trial Attorney Brian K. Kidd of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.