Greg Campbell, a lobbyist representing the City of Fresno in Sacramento, will plead guilty to two counts of fraud in federal court.
Campbell’s plea comes in relation to a federal grand jury charging Dana Williamson, the former Chief of Staff for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, with fraud.
The big picture: According to court documents that were unsealed on Wednesday, Campbell signed a plea deal agreeing to plead guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and to Commit Offenses Against the United States.
- Campbell also agreed to pay $225,000 in restitution.
- Campbell is registered with the California Secretary of State’s Office as the owner of Campbell Strategy & Advocacy LLC, based out of Sacramento. The City of Fresno is listed as one of his dozens of clients. Other clients include the Los Angeles Angels, Draftkings, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, Pacific Gas & Electric, Paramount, Planned Parenthood, the San Diego Padres, the San Francisco Giants, TikTok and many others.
State of play: Federal prosecutors unsealed Williamson’s grand jury indictment on Wednesday and announced that Williamson was arrested Wednesday morning.
- Campbell was named in Williamson’s indictment but was charged in a separate case. While Campbell will plead guilty to two counts, Williamson faces 23-counts, including conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct justice, subscribing to false tax returns and making false statements.
- Williamson pleaded not guilty in federal court on Wednesday.
Zoom in: The plea deal states that Campbell conspired with others from February 2022 through September 2024 to divert around $225,000 from a campaign account for one of the conspirator’s personal use.
- While the plea deal does not name the co-conspirators, the grand jury indictment brought against Williamson identifies herself and Sean McCluskie, who is the former longtime Chief of Staff for former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
- The grand jury indictment states that the defendants conspired to defraud a dormant campaign account belonging to Becerra while he was working in former President Joe Biden’s administration.
- Becerra served as California’s Attorney General before joining the Biden administration. Federal ethics rules required Becerra to refrain from actively engaging in campaign-related activities while serving in the Biden administration. To comply, Becerra allowed the account to become dormant.
Go deeper: While the plea deal does not name Williamson and McCluskie, details match up with the grand jury indictment to identify them.
- The plea deal states that “Co-Conspirator 4,” who matches McCluskie’s identity, took a pay cut to around $183,100 annually to serve as Becerra’s Chief of Staff in the Biden administration. McCluskie previously served as Becerra’s Chief of Staff when he was the Attorney General.
- McCluskie met with Williamson in early 2022 to discuss his desire for more money. Williamson ran her own public affairs company at the time before working for the Newsom administration from late 2022 to December 2024.
- McCluskie and Williamson came up with an idea to have Becerra’s dormant campaign account pay her $7,500 per month to purportedly manage the account. Williamson would then send $10,000 per month between two controlled by Campbell. One of his companies would then pay a $10,000 per month salary to McCluskie’s spouse with the campaign funds. “The purpose of the payments from the dormant campaign account was so that [Williamson] would not have to bear the entire cost of [McCluskie’s] spouse’s no-show job,” the plea deal reads.
FBI surveillance: The plea agreement states that the FBI surveilled a meeting between Campbell and an unnamed co-conspirator on Aug. 2, 2024.
- “Campbell said that the arrangement was ‘always set up to be somewhat icky’ and he admitted the arrangement was structured so that they were ‘act[ing] as a passthrough for people that [we]re friends.’ Campbell further acknowledged that such conduct amounted to ‘laundering money,’ and it was, indeed, ‘wrong,’” the plea deal reads.
What they’re saying: The Sun reached out to the City of Fresno for comment on Campbell but did not hear back by publication.
- Speaking about the charges levied against Williamson, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said, “This is a crucial step in an ongoing political corruption investigation that began more than three years ago. As it always has, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to protect the people of California from political corruption.”
What we’re watching: Federal prosecutors agreed in the plea deal to recommend that Campbell is sentenced to the low end of the sentencing guidelines determined by the court.
- The maximum sentence that Campbell faces is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. He could also face a three-year period of supervised release.
- Williamson faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. She also faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conspiracy to obstruct and making false statements, and up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine for each count of subscribing to a false tax return.
- McCluskie also agreed to plead guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Wire Fraud. He has agreed to pay $225,000 in restitution and faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
