Lawmaker, Wife Admit Campaign Violation California Congressman Stashed More Than $230,000 In Donations

A four-year federal investigation that snared five multinational corporations claimed its biggest prize Thursday when California Rep. Jay C. Kim and his wife agreed to plead guilty to concealing more than $230,000 in illegal campaign contributions from corporate and foreign donors.

In a deal with prosecutors, the Republican congressman and his wife, June, who helped manage his campaigns, will be allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanor election law violations in Los Angeles federal court on Monday.

“With many lessons learned it is time to move forward,” he said in a brief written statement promising to continue his work in Congress, where he is the only Korean American.

The most serious allegations involving the Kims were contained in a felony complaint filed not against the couple but against Kim’s campaign committee. Although Kim will enter a guilty plea on behalf of the committee, he will not be held personally responsible.

By negotiating a misdemeanor plea, the Republican from Diamond Bar, east of Los Angeles, likely spared himself being pressured to resign by his House colleagues had he been convicted of a more serious offense.

The Kims face maximum fines of $635,000. According to the plea agreement, prosecutors will request between zero and six months in jail for the couple - as opposed to the maximum one-year sentence the violations typically carry.

Beneath the surface of the negotiated settlement, however, there was dissatisfaction in some law enforcement quarters because the Kims were not charged with felonies. A felony conviction would likely have forced Kim to relinquish his office. Well-placed sources told the Los Angeles Times that U.S. Attorney Nora Manella and her staff lobbied unsuccessfully with their Washington superiors for permission to seek felony indictments against the couple.

“We had a lot of discussions with the Department of Justice,” Manella said Thursday, “but at the end of the day this decision is one that I’m fully on board with.”

The plea agreement, she added, makes clear “in black and white” that Kim and his wife were engaged in “a scheme of illegal conduct over a period of years.”