Texas Republican sentenced to 18 months for directing Russian money to Trump 2016 campaign
Jessie R. Benton skimmed Russian cash
A Texas Republican operative who was convicted in November for soliciting and causing an illegal campaign contribution by a foreign national to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was sentenced last week.
Jesse R. Benton, 45, of Woodlands, Texas, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in funneling illegal foreign campaign contributions from a Russian national to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
According to court documents, Benton schemed with another political advisor to funnel political contributions from a Russian national seeking to meet and take a picture with Trump. Benton arranged for the Russian national – whose nationality Benton concealed from the campaign and Trump – to attend a campaign fundraising event and to take a picture with Trump.
Attendance at the event required a contribution so Benton had Russian wire $100,000 to his political consulting firm. To disguise the scheme, Benton created a fake invoice, which falsely identified the funds as payment for consulting services.
Benton acted as a straw donor and contributed $25,000 of the Russian national’s money to the campaign, falsely identified himself as the contributor, and pocketed the remaining $75,000. Because Benton falsely claimed to have given the contribution himself, the relevant campaign entities unwittingly filed reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that inaccurately reported Benton – instead of the Russian national – as the source of the funds.
This is Benton’s second felony conviction. He was convicted of bribing an Iowas state senator during the 2012 presidential primary but was pardoned by Trump in late 2020.
