Federal prosecutors want six and a half years in prison for a Republican political operative whose consulting firm siphoned millions of dollars from donors who were duped into thinking they were supporting Republican candidates and conservative causes.
The Justice Department asked a federal judge in Virginia this week to sentence Kelley Rogers to 78 months behind bars for what they describe as a brazen and thoroughly corrupt effort to line his and his associates’ pockets with bogus fundraising appeals. Rogers pleaded guilty to one felony fraud count. A business associate, Scott Mackenzie, also pleaded guilty to one felony count of submitting false statements in a related case. He faces as much as five years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Both cases center on a digital and direct-mail consulting firm called Strategic Campaign Group and a number of PACs that paid the firm for extensive—and, in many cases, fraudulent—fundraising campaigns. Between Mackenzie and Rogers, the episode was already among the most significant prosecutions of fraudulent political fundraising to date.