DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A jury has found an aide to Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign guilty of one of five charges he faced related to secret payments to an Iowa lawmaker. A second aide was acquitted.
The jury in Des Moines, Iowa, convicted Dimitri Kesari of causing the campaign to file false records concerning the payments to former Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson. He was acquitted of one other charge, and jurors said they could not reach a verdict on three other charges.
Co-defendant Jesse Benton was acquitted of the one charge he faced — making false statements to the FBI. Benton was the former campaign chairman and Kesari was a deputy campaign manager.
Prosecutors alleged the men knowingly hid $73,000 in payments to Sorenson, who endorsed Paul’s campaign before the Iowa caucuses.
