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The cash may have been flowing into the campaign for New York City Mayor Eric Adams but Dwayne Montgomery did that all on his own. Adams’ former colleague just pleaded guilty to “one conspiracy charge” and got a slap on the wrist sentence for it. The alleged “straw donor scheme” purportedly “funneled tens of thousands of dollars to Adams’ 2021 campaign.”
Cash donation conspiracy
Dwayne Montgomery served side-by-side with Eric Adams in the NYPD, before he cooked up an illegal scheme to shovel cash in his buddy’s direction.
When Adams heard about the guilty plea, he didn’t have a lot to say. Something along the line of “gee that’s tough but he shouldn’t have broken the law.”
In any case, even though Adams may have benefited from the illegal contribution cash, his hands are totally clean. He had no idea what his amigo was up to. He claims.
BREAKING: Dwayne Montgomery, an ex-NYPD colleague + longtime acquaintance of @NYCMayor, just pleaded guilty to conspiring to send Eric Adams straw donations—a tactic that scored Adams public campaign $
His deal requires he refrain from soliciting political donations for a year. pic.twitter.com/AN6s4FOdpp
— George Joseph (@georgejoseph94) February 5, 2024
“I think the DA clearly reported that there was nothing our campaign did that was a part of what was done wrong. I say let the DA handle the situation.” That’s his story and he’s sticking with it. Since the case will be closed as soon as the judge rubber stamps it, he seems to be in the clear.
Controversial Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was behind the lenient deal. That makes sense because he routinely lets violent criminals walk away free, while throwing the book at those who dared buy a bogus COVID vaccine card.
The former police officer should be held to a higher standard of conduct but got the kind of plea deal criminals dream about. His entire motivation for running the cash for Adams scam was “the hope of reaping kickbacks.” He’ll get sentenced to 200 hours of community service and a $500 fine.
A deliberate scheme
Even Bragg fully admits that his prosecution team alleged “a deliberate scheme to game the system in a blatant attempt to gain power.” Along with the community service and fine, “Montgomery would also be subject to a year-long ban on hosting political fundraisers, soliciting donations on behalf of any campaign and acting as an intermediary between donors and campaigns.”
Taking cash from one big pile and donating it in several little piles is a political no-no.
Montgomery admitted in writing to conspiring with a number of other individuals called “straw donors.” Those are people willing to make a contribution with someone else’s money. The ones supplying that money all expect something in return. What they get are “favors” from the candidate they paid for.
Dwayne Montgomery, a former NYPD inspector who has been friends with Mayor Adams for years, pleaded guilty today to charges that he masterminded a scheme to funnel illegal donations into the mayor’s 2021 campaign coffers.
Story will be updatedhttps://t.co/ZViVjEmXUy
— Chris Sommerfeldt (@C_Sommerfeldt) February 5, 2024
Adams has more than enough plausible deniability because not a single penny of the illegal cash went through his hands. Besides that, his team used a vetting process that included “spending thousands of dollars on a compliance attorney, who matched signature, who matched information and made sure things were done with the level of scrutiny they deserved.”
In fairness to the mayor, his team caught some improper donations and “returned back tens of thousands of donations that did not follow that muster. And so the campaign did it’s job.”
One of the reasons that the light penalties are really cheesing off New York taxpayers is because of a contribution matching program which amplified the illegal cash donations. “Under New York City’s public matching system, donations up to $250 from city residents are matched 8-1 with tax dollars, meaning any illicit contribution to the mayor’s campaign could be multiplied many times over.“
