A member of a super PAC supporting Donald Trump has been convicted on corruption charges after he was accused of shelling out money for an endorsement four years ago.
Jesse Benton and two other staffers who worked on Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign were found guilty of paying an Iowa state senator at the time, Kent Leroy Sorenson, $73,125 to drop his support of Michele Bachmann and instead back Paul's presidential bid.
The payments were in small increments of less than $10,000, reports the
Washington Times, and they were funneled through a film production company in an effort to hide them.
Benton served as Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign manager for his 2014 reelection campaign, and in March of this year
he was named to the staff of the Great America PAC that supports Trump.
Benton served as campaign chair for Paul's campaign. Also found guilty in the pay-for-endorsement scheme Thursday were Paul's campaign manager John Tate and deputy campaign manager Dimitri Kesari.
Benton is married to Paul's granddaughter.
"When you're on a campaign, you're highly stressed out," Des Moines attorney Grant Woodard, who worked on Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, told the
Des Moines Register.
"You're always looking to try to find some sort of advantage. People try to get loose with the rules and try and figure out ways of skirting compliance laws, but I think it shows on all levels of a campaign you need to be aware of what your staff is up to. Ignorance is not an excuse."
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