The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Defendants Benton, Tate, and Kesari’s conviction of causing false records, causing false campaign expenditure reports, engaging in a false statements scheme; and conspiring to commit these offenses.
Benton was the campaign chairman in Sentaor Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign, Tate was his campaign manager, and Kesari served in the role of deputy campaign manager. The defendant’s were convicted and appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The appeals court held that there was sufficient evidence to convict defendants; the jury was entitled to infer from the facts that Benton and Tate had knowingly and willfully caused Commission reports to be filed which falsely reported the payments to a senator for his endorsement as payments to ICT for audio/visual services.
The appeals court rejected defendants’ arguments that the reporting requirements were so vague or confusing that the court should either apply the rule of lenity or determine that criminal enforcement was not appropriate in this case; Kesari’s counts were not multiplicitious; the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Tate’s motion to sever his trial from his codefendants; and the court rejected challenges to the jury instructions, evidentiary challenges, and a Jencks Act claim.
