ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A northern Virginia businessman was sentenced Friday to more than two years in prison for illegally funneling nearly $200,000 to Hillary Clinton's political campaigns in 2006 and 2008.
William Danielczyk, 51, of Oakton pleaded guilty in February to violating campaign-finance laws by reimbursing employees of his company, Galen Capital, and others who were recruited to attend fundraisers and make contributions Clinton's Senate and presidential campaigns.
There are no allegations Clinton or her campaign acted improperly.
The sentence of 28 months was roughly half of the five-year maximum sought by prosecutors in U.S. District Court. Danielczyk's lawyers, meanwhile, argued that many similar violations of the campaign-finance laws had resulted only in probation.
In imposing his sentence, U.S. District Judge James Cacheris compared Danielczyk's case to defense lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti, who received 27 months for illegally funneling more than $380,000 to House members controlling the Pentagon's budget.
Arguing for a lighter sentence, defense lawyer Abbe Lowell said Danielczyk's case differed from more serious violations in part because Danielczyk did not seek any special favors in exchange for his fundraising efforts.
But prosecutor Eric Gibson disputed that, citing grand jury testimony that Danielczyk had told others he hoped to land an ambassadorship and saw fundraising as a means to achieve it.
Lowell also urged the judge to tread lightly given the fact that campaign-finance laws are in flux and courts are still sorting out the implications of the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, which lifted many restrictions on corporate spending in political elections. Indeed, for a brief time, Cacheris had tossed out some of the charges against Danielczyk, ruling that under Citizens United, the campaign finance law banning corporations like Galen from making contributions to federal candidates is unconstitutional.
