By Ana Gomez Salcido
After six weeks of trial and more than five days of deliberations, a federal jury in San Diego returned guilty verdicts against three defendants for their involvement in illegally funneling over $500,000 in foreign campaign contributions to two candidates running for the Mayor of the City of San Diego in 2012.
Jose Susumo Azano Matsura, his son Edward Susumo Azano Hester, and Ravneet Singh were each convicted of felony counts associated with a series of illegal campaign contributions by Azano Matsura to the campaigns of Bonnie Dumanis and Bob Filner.
Dumanis who is the current San Diego District Attorney, took the stand in the trial and mentioned that she thought that Azano Matsura was a U.S. citizen, and that she never talked directly to him about any financials or donation contributions to her campaign. According to federal law, it is illegal for a foreign national to donate to political campaigns in the United States.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict on several charges brought against San Diego lobbyist Marco Polo Cortes, and acquitted Cortes on several charges of falsifying campaign donation records. The jury also acquitted Hester on several charges related to the falsification of campaign donation records, and could not reach a verdict on several other charges against Hester. Finally, the jury could not reach a verdict on a firearm charge against Azano. A status hearing has been scheduled on these counts in November 2016.
“We appreciate the jury’s dedication during this long trial and are grateful for their careful consideration of the evidence,” stated Executive Assistant United States Attorney Blair C. Perez, Acting Attorney for the United States in this case. “The jury’s verdict confirms that a foreign national must not attempt to influence a United States election.”
According to evidence presented at trial, Azano Matsura contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars and free in-kind campaign services to the Dumanis and Filner campaigns during the 2012 election cycle, despite the fact that his foreign national status made such contributions illegal. To conceal his connection to these contributions, Azano Matsura arranged with his son Hester and others to funnel this illegal foreign money through third person straw donor conduits. Azano Matsura also arranged with co-defendant Singh to have Azano Matsura secretly pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars of services from Singh’s campaign consulting company, and to use those services to benefit the campaigns. Evidence also showed that Azano Matsura secretly funneled $30,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee through a conduit straw donor.
The convicted defendants were ordered to return to court on December 5, 2016 for a sentencing hearing before United States District Judge Michael M. Anello.
Two others pleaded guilty in the case including former San Diego Police Detective Ernesto Encinas, and Marc Chase, former owner of a luxury car dealership in La Jolla, who admitted that he conspired with Azano Matsura, Singh, Encinas and Cortes to make several illegal campaign contributions in connection with various campaigns for elective office during the 2012 primary and general election cycles.