The political consultant acting as the treasurer for multiple conservative Political Action Committees (PACs), plead guilty Tuesday to filing false reports to Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Scott Buchanan Mackenzie, 66, pleaded guilty “to one count of making a false statement to the FEC before U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady of the Eastern District of Virginia,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a press release.
Mackenzie admitted in his plea agreement that between 2011 and 2018, while he was treasurer for around 52 PACs — including Conservative StrikeForce, Conservative Majority, Fund, Tea Party Majority Fund, and Conservative Majority SuperFund — he filed false reports with the FEC regarding the money raised and spent by the PACs.
Between October 2011 and June 2014, Mackenzie deposited approximately $32,500 into a joint bank account he had with an unnamed person with whom he had a personal relationship. Mackenzie claimed on FEC reports that this person provided work for Conservative StrikeForce and Conservative Majority Fund. The unnamed person, however, did not perform the alleged work and had “no experience in political fundraising,” according to DOJ. Mackenzie also admitted to the following:
In addition, Mackenzie also made false statements to the FEC to conceal the unlawful use of funds raised by Conservative Majority Fund and Tea Party Majority Fund to pay at least $172,200 in legal fees that Conservative StrikeForce and affiliated companies had incurred from a civil lawsuit brought by a former gubernatorial candidate for Virginia.
Finally, Mackenzie admitted that he participated in a scheme to use conduits (also known as straw donors) to make contributions to candidates running for federal public office. Mackenzie used conduits to make these contributions in order to evade limits that federal law placed on individual campaign contributions, as well as prohibitions against corporate contributions.
As part of his plea agreement, Mackenzie agreed to pay back $172,200 “in restitution to victims of his scheme to illegally funnel money between PACs to pay legal fees.”
The civil lawsuit against Conservative StrikeForce was filed by former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2013, and alleged in his lawsuit that Conservative Strikeforce used his name to raise millions of dollars but only donated a small fraction of the money raised to his campaign. In May 2015, Conservative StrikeForce was ordered to pay Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial campaign $85,000, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. In addition, Cuccinelli was granted “exclusive access to the PAC’s email and direct mail list, and nonexclusive access to its phone list and the donor list for the organization’s Conservative Majority PAC,” the outlet reported.
Conservative StrikeForce was also told to discontinue using a candidate’s name or likeness if asked to do so by the candidate via written request.
Cuccinelli said after the settlement that he hoped it would “deter scam PACs from preying on old people who agree with them politically to get their donations.”
In September, another person associated with these PACs pleaded guilty to soliciting donations from people with similar political beliefs to enrich himself and his businesses. The Washington Post reported at the time that Maryland political consultant Kelley Rogers, 55 plead guilty to scamming people out of their money by claiming their donations would go to political candidates and get-out-the-vote efforts. Later, he claimed the donations would help military veterans. Nearly all the money went to Rogers or toward raising more money. Rogers “agreed to pay $491,299 in restitution to victims of the fraud scheme, as well as a forfeiture judgment of $208,954,” the Post reported.