A federal jury in Iowa convicted three former Ron Paul presidential campaign staffers Thursday of covering up payments to an Iowa state senator who endorsed him, according to the Associated Press.
Paul’s 2012 Republican presidential campaign chairman Jesse Benton, campaign manager John Tate, and campaign deputy manager Dimitri Kesari were found guilty of conspiracy, filing false campaign contribution reports with the Federal Election Commission, and participating in a false statement scheme.
The trio claimed they never broke the law when they paid a video production company, which in turn gave $73,000 to former state Sen. Kent Sorenson. Sorenson switched his endorsement from Rep. Michele Bachmann to Paul six days before the 2012 Iowa caucuses. Paul won the Iowa caucuses, but dropped out of the Republican primary race in May 2012.
The federal court in Des Moines has yet to set a sentencing date. A grand jury indicted the former staffers in July 2015.
Ron Paul, a former Texas Republican congressman, is the father of Sen. [crscore]Rand Paul[/crscore], the Kentucky Republican who was an unsuccessful presidential hopeful in the 2016 GOP race.
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