The U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento said Tuesday it has entered a court filing in the case of a campaign treasurer charged with looting the political accounts of numerous Democratic candidates, but it would not respond to inquiries about the nature of the filing.
Kinde Durkee
Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee defrauded at least 50 candidates, officeholders and political organizations out of $7 million in a scheme that dates back more than a decade, according to a court filing made Tuesday by federal prosecutors.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento filed the additional charges in federal court, providing the most detailed account to date in a case that has left some Democratic candidates scrambling for campaign cash in an election year.
Such filings typically are a prelude to a plea, but prosecutors would not confirm such a development or offer any further details.
Durkee, who heads Durkee & Associates in Burbank, was arrested in September and charged with suspicion of mail fraud after millions of dollars disappeared from the campaign accounts of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, other Democratic members of Congress and several Democratic state lawmakers.
The filing details a complex shell game in which Durkee shifted campaign money to cover an array of personal and business expenses.
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