Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Prosecutors: Democratic Campaign Treasurer Embezzled $7 Million From Multiple Clients

Published March 28, 2012
FoxNews.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Federal prosecutors said in a court filing late Tuesday that a longtime California Democratic campaign treasurer embezzled $7 million from at least 50 candidates, officeholders and political operatives in a scheme that had been perpetuated for over 10 years

Such filings are usually indicative of an upcoming plea bargain, but prosecutors would not comment on whether this was true in the case of Kinde Durkee, who spent two decades working for scores of campaigns in California and was Sen. Dianne Feinstein's campaign treasurer.

The $7 million claim is a much higher amount than the initial charge against Durkee, which claimed she bilked about $600,000 from a California state assemblyman.

The filing gives the most detailed account to date on Durkee's ongoing scheme, and claims she used her clients' campaign money to cover an array of personal and business expenses.

In one example, $23,000 taken from Feinstein's account was used to help pay American Express credit card charges from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Amazon.com, Disneyland, Trader Joe's and Turners Outdoorsman.

Other misappropriations from Feinstein's account covered payments for a Long Beach condominium owned by Durkee and to the 401(k) plan for her employees.

The court filing said Durkee had devised a scheme from January 2000 until she was arrested last September "to defraud clients of Durkee & Associates, and to obtain money from them by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises."

It said she had signature control over roughly 700 bank accounts, including those used by political campaigns.

Earlier Tuesday, Politico reported Durkee would plead guilty to an $8 million scheme, and claimed that amount would make this the largest embezzlement case in U.S. election history.

The political website also claimed Durkee will plead guilty to at least five counts of fraud, and that prosecutors will recommend 11 to 14 years in prison.

In addition to Feinstein, Durkee served as treasurer for Congresswomen Loretta Sanchez, Linda Sanchez, Laura Richardson, Susan Davis and other state and local officials and grassroots Democratic organizations.

Feinstein has previously stated she lost about $4.7 million from her campaign accounts in the fraud, and cut a $5 million check to her own campaign to cover the losses.

"This was a very hard thing for me," Feinstein has said. "When you trust someone and this happens, it’s sort of like a knife being put in your back and twisted because you have that trust."

Rep. Susan Davis, who claimed losses up to $250,000, called Durkee the "Bernie Madoff of campaign finance treasurers" in an email to supporters in September.

Rep. Linda Sanchez previously reported losses of $322,000, with her sister Rep. Loretta Sanchez reporting a $125,000 loss.

The original court documents in the case charged Durkee with siphoning over $600,000 from a California state assemblyman.

A newspaper profile of Durkee in December showed her business skills to be incredibly poor. Accounts were mismanaged and company funds were supposedly sloshed together with accounts she was supposedly organizing for her clients.

Despite Davis' "Madoff" characterization, there were few signs that Durkee was living the high life. Her house in a nice upper middle-class neighborhood was the only one that didn't have a nice green lawn, and both the house and the old car out front were in need of repair.

Her apparent financial struggles were also revealed Tuesday, as the U.S. attorney's office and Durkee agreed to a forfeiture auction of her Burbank home, which it says she owns with her husband, John Forgy.

The couple owe $671,000 on the house, as well as $17,471 in state tax liens, according to the filing.

Preliminary hearings for Durkee were set and rescheduled half-a-dozen times as investigators went through her books.

Durkee is expected to appear in court Friday afternoon at a hearing that had been scheduled before Tuesday's developments.

Fox News' Lee Ross and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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