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Former presidential candidate John Edwards was charged with marketing campaign finance violations in 2011.
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The DOJ accused Edwards of funneling almost $1 million in donations to his pregnant mistress.
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Edwards was acquitted of 1 marketing campaign finance violation cost and the others had been dropped.
Authorized specialists are debating what the end result of a trial is perhaps after a Manhattan grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump on Thursday, seemingly over a hush-money cost made to grownup movie actress Stormy Daniels.
These specialists do not must look far to search out precedent: The final time a grand jury criminally charged a presidential candidate for funds made to a mistress, John Edwards confronted as much as 30 years in jail and $1.5 million in fines. That was in 2011.
Edwards was John Kerry’s vice presidential operating mate in 2004 within the pair’s dropping race towards George W. Bush and Dick Cheney previous to launching his personal presidential marketing campaign in 2008.
The felony fees the previous North Carolina Senator confronted in 2011 — one rely of conspiracy to violate federal marketing campaign finance legal guidelines and mislead the Federal Election Fee (FEC), 4 counts of accepting and receiving unlawful marketing campaign contributions, and one rely of concealing these unlawful donations from the FEC — stemmed from his personal 2008 marketing campaign. Every carried a most five-year time period in jail and a $250,000 high-quality.
“Mr. Edwards is alleged to have accepted greater than $900,000 in an effort to hide from the general public details that he believed would hurt his candidacy,” Assistant Legal professional Common Breuer mentioned in a June 2011 Division of Justice assertion concerning the indictment.
A yearlong investigation and trial alleged that Edwards conspired along with his marketing campaign employees to cover that in 2007 the candidate had fathered a daughter along with his mistress, all whereas his spouse battled breast most cancers.
Edwards later admitted to the affair, that he was the daddy of the lady, and was financially supporting the pair. His spouse, Elizabeth, filed for separation after Edwards admitted the kid was his, however died of her sickness earlier than the felony fees had been introduced.
Within the case towards him, DOJ officers argued Edwards orchestrated a sequence of unlawful donations to supply hush-money funds to his mistress, then conspired along with his employees to lie concerning the affair and canopy up the unlawful donations with test memos like “chairs,” “vintage desk,” and “bookcase.”
Authorized specialists regarded the case as shaky as a result of the costs weren’t based mostly on a selected federal statute, however an advisory FEC opinion that argued items made to political candidates needs to be thought-about marketing campaign contributions, CNN and the Washington Submit reported on the time.
After 9 days of deliberations, a jury acquitted Edwards of 1 cost of accepting an unlawful donation, ABC Information reported, however was hopelessly deadlocked on the opposite 5 counts, leading to a mistrial. The Division of Justice selected to not re-try Edwards, Politico reported in 2012.
“It isn’t unlawful to be a pig,” Brett Kappel, a Washington marketing campaign finance professional, instructed the Washington Submit on the time. “Is what Edwards did slimy? Completely. Everybody will agree it was reprehensible. But it surely’s not a criminal offense.”
Edwards did not reply to Insider’s request for remark, which was despatched to his regulation agency.
Trump, in the meantime, is anticipated to show himself in to the Manhattan district legal professional subsequent week.
Editor’s word: This story has been up to date to replicate latest developments.
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