PENNSYLVANIA
A former Municipal Court Senior Judge plead guilty to a criminal information Monday charging him with causing false statements to the Federal Election Commission or FEC in connection with a 2012 congressional primary election.
Jimmie Moore was a challenger of U.S. Rep. Bob Brady and agreed to drop out of the 2012 primary race in exchange for $90,000 from Brady.
Moore is allegedly cooperating with federal prosecutors.
According to the plea memorandum, those payments came from the campaign committee of Moore’s political opponent for the purpose of removing Moore from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District.
Moore admitted that in or about February 2012, he withdrew from the primary election pursuant to an agreement with his opponent, who promised to pay Moore $90,000 from his campaign funds to be used to repay Moore’s campaign debts.
Those payments were made to Moore’s campaign manager, Carolyn Cavaness, 34, of Philadelphia, and to an entity created for the purpose of repaying the Moore campaign’s outstanding debts to its vendors.
Those payments were routed through consulting companies to conceal their true source.
Cavaness, acting at Moore’s direction, used the money from Moore’s opponent’s campaign committee to repay the campaign vendors and to reimburse Moore for loans he had made to his own campaign.
However, Moore’s campaign failed to disclose this information to the FEC.
Instead, Moore and Cavaness filed false reports with the FEC.
Cavaness previously pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging her with causing false statements to the FEC in connection with this scheme, according to officials.