US authorities have charged three men, namely, Matthew Tunstall, Robert Reyes, Jr. and Kyle Davies, for operating two fraudulent political action committees (PACs) during the 2016 US federal elections. Tunstall and Reyes committed ML, while all three men committed wire fraud and made a false statement to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The defendants misrepresented that Liberty Action Group PAC and Progressive Priorities PAC were affiliated with candidates for public office. They used these misrepresentations to solicit donations for the PACs.
Between January 2016 and April 2017, the three men received over $3.5 million from donors unaware of being misled. The defendants used the money for personal purposes and to sponsor more misleading advertisements to get more donations. Additionally, Tunstall and Reyes laundered over $350,000 of the illicitly-obtained funds through a third-party vendor.
Source: US Department of Justice