PA Democrat Under FBI Investigation – Allegedly Paid 2012 Primary Opponent to Quit

PA Democrat Under FBI Investigation – Allegedly Paid 2012 Primary Opponent to Quit

Rep. Bob Brady of Pennsylvania has become the subject of an FBI probe based on alleged criminal campaign finance activity during the 2012 election. Brady’s campaign is accused of paying his primary opponent to drop out of the race.

Katie Zawadski and Andrew Desiderio of the Daily Beast:

FBI Investigates Congressman for His Campaign Paying Opponent to Quit

The FBI said it is investigating Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA) for an alleged scheme to pay his primary opponent to drop out of a 2012 race against him and for allegedly lying to investigators.

The revelation came from a search warrant application unsealed in a Pennsylvania federal court on Monday, which was first reported by Seamus Hughes. An FBI agent asked a judge to authorize access to Brady’s personal email account on the belief it holds evidence contradicting an anticipated defense about the campaign payments. The judge approved the warrant and the FBI said it got one CD worth of data from the email account.

Brady’s congressional office in Washington, D.C., could not be reached for comment. Brady has not been charged with a crime.

Jimmie Moore ended his campaign for the Democratic nomination in February 2012 after allegedly receiving $90,000 from the Brady campaign. The FBI said the payments were routed from the Brady campaign to businesses owned by his aides. Then the money was transferred to one of Moore’s aides, who used it to pay for services rendered to the Moore campaign.

Kathryn Watson of CBS News has more:

Court docs: Congressman Bob Brady under FBI scrutiny in campaign finance probe

Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pennsylvania, is suspected of wrongdoing in the FBI’s investigation into payments his campaign allegedly made to his opponent in 2012 to encourage him to drop out of the race, according to an approved search warrant application filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Two political consultants have already been charged in the campaign finance probe involving Brady’s reelection campaign, but the recently unsealed search warrant application appears to be the first time Brady himself is mentioned as suspected of criminal wrongdoing in the probe. Federal prosecutors last month said Kenneth Smukler and Donald Jones planned a scheme for the Brady campaign to make an illicit $90,0000 campaign donation to Jimmie Moore, intended to pay down campaign debt.

Here’s a short video report from CBS News in Philadelphia:

This just became a national news story but has been covered locally for weeks. Jeremy Roebuck of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported back on October 2:

Former judge admits concealing payments he got from Brady campaign

A onetime challenger to U.S. Rep. Bob Brady has agreed to cooperate – and potentially testify — in an ongoing federal investigation into $90,000 he says the congressman’s campaign gave him to drop out of a 2012 primary race.

But Jimmie Moore, a former Philadelphia Municipal Court judge, remained tight-lipped Monday on whether his testimony could implicate Brady, one of Philadelphia’s most powerful Democrats, in a crime.

The details of Moore’s cooperation with the government emerged during a federal court hearing in which the onetime Brady rival pleaded guilty to falsifying his campaign finance filings to conceal the $90,000 payment.

His lawyer, Jeffrey Miller, said in court that Moore had been working with government lawyers for months, but he declined afterward to elaborate on the extent of that cooperation or where it might have led.

Featured image via YouTube.

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