The treasurer for an unsuccessful Brooklyn borough president candidate pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that she tried to scam the city out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in public matching funds.
Erlene King, 71, who worked on the 2021 primary campaign of Democrat Anthony Jones, could face between 33 and 41 months in prison when she’s sentenced in Brooklyn Federal Court April 29.
King, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud, tried to take advantage of the city’s 8-to-1 matching campaign funds program with a straw donor scheme. She submitted $25,000 in straw donations to Jones’ campaign, along with five corresponding “fictitious records,” in the hopes of getting $400,000 in matching funds, prosecutors said.
King used CashApp to send money to straw donors, who in turn donated the dough to Jones’ campaign. But the city Campaign Finance Board noticed the donations were suspicious and denied the matching funds.
Jones tried to appeal that decision at a November 2021 hearing, telling the Campaign Finance Board he was “confused” by the decision and believed his treasurer followed the rules.
The CFB’s counsel, Joseph Gallagher, said the board denied the funds after finding “28 non-credible signatures on affirmation statements.”
At the hearing, King told the board that campaign staffers collected the suspicious-looking signatures in the field, and suggested donors’ signatures might have changed as a result of getting COVID-19.
“Instead of playing by the rules New York City established for free and fair elections, the defendant attempted to use the city’s matching funds program to give the campaign an unfair advantage,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Tuesday.
Jones, who is not charged with a crime, came in eighth in a field of 12 primary candidates, getting just 3% of the vote and losing to Antonio Reynoso, who won the general election that November. Jones ran on the Rent is 2 Damn High line in the general election, and got 2.7% of the vote.
His campaign still owes more than $720,000 in debt, public records show. He raised about $83,000 in donations, but spent more than $810,000.
