Aide to Ron Paul's 2012 U.S. presidential campaign gets 3-month term in bribery scheme
Sept 21 (Reuters) - An aide to Ron Paul's 2012 U.S. Republican presidential campaign was sentenced on Wednesday to three months in prison in connection with a bribery scheme to buy an Iowa state senator's endorsement.
Dimitri Kesari was found guilty in federal court in Iowa of conspiracy, submitting false campaign expenditure reports to the Federal Election Commission and other charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Kesari was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and spend three months in home confinement, Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said.
Kesari's attorney, Jesse Binnall, said that while he disagreed with some legal arguments made in the case, he and his client were happy with U.S. District Judge John Jarvey's sentence.
"Jarvey quite appropriately tempered justice and mercy," Binnall said by telephone.
The case grew out of allegations that Kesari and two other aides, John Tate and Jesse Benton, bribed Iowa state Senator Kent Sorenson with $73,000 to switch his endorsement to Paul from then-U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann days before the 2012 Iowa Republican caucus.
Paul, then a U.S. representative from Texas, finished third in the caucus, the first contest in the party's nominating process. Mitt Romney eventually won the Republican nomination and lost to President Barack Obama.
Benton and Kesari went on trial in October 2015 in relation to the scheme. Kesari was convicted on one count while the jury was hung on three others.
Benton was acquitted of one charge and a judge dismissed the remaining charges against Benton and Tate, but allowed prosecutors to refile them. In a second trial, Benton, Kesari and Tate were convicted on the remaining charges.
Paul was never charged in relation to the scheme.
Benton and Tate were sentenced on Tuesday to six months' home confinement and a $10,000 fine, Carr said. Prosecutors were seeking sentences of up to 27 months for Tate and Benton and 33 months for Kesari, according to Carr.
Sorenson pleaded guilty in 2014 to causing the filing of false campaign reports and obstruction of justice in connection with the case. Sorenson has not been sentenced, according to court filings. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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