Former Indiana congressional candidate agrees to plead guilty in campaign finance fraud case

Former Indiana congressional candidate Gabriel ‘Gabe’ Whitley is admitting that he falsified campaign finance records, saying he lied about raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions ahead of the May 2024 primary.

Questions about Whitley’s campaign finances were first reported by the Indiana Capital Chronicle early last year.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana said in Wednesday evening news release that Whitley will plead guilty to making false statements to the Federal Election Commission by fabricating contributions purportedly made to his campaign, “Honest Gabe for Congress,” for the purpose of “falsely portraying that his campaign had significantly greater support and financial resources than it actually did.”

Whitley was a Republican candidate in the primary election for Indiana’s Seventh Congressional District—which comprises much of Indianapolis—and served as treasurer of his campaign committee, according to court documents.
He now faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years probation. It will be up to a federal district court judge to determine his exact sentence at a Jan. 28 hearing.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Whitley admitted that he lied to the FEC in three separate reports about hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from supporters and loans from himself.

“Specifically, Whitley admitted that in October 2023, he falsely claimed that 67 people, whose biographical details he made up, had contributed approximately $222,690 to Honest Gabe for Congress,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.

Continued at: https://www.ibj.com/articles/former-indiana-congressional-candidate-agrees-to-plead-guilty-in-campaign-finance-fraud-case