WASHINGTON _ Former Capitol Hill staffer Jason T. Posey was sentenced Tuesday for his role in an extensive scheme that involved defrauding charitable donors by laundering funds to pay personal and campaign expenses.
Posey, 48, of Tupelo, Miss., was an aide to former Rep. Steve Stockman. He was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He has also been ordered to pay $564,718.65 in restitution and forfeit $156,855.29 in illicit gains.
Posey pleaded guilty in 2017 to charges including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and money laundering.
Stockman, a former Texas Republican congressman, was sentenced in November 2018 to 120 months in prison after a federal jury convicted him of 23 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission.
A federal jury in April 2018 found Stockman guilty of soliciting $1.25 million in donations based on false pretenses, specifically using some of the funds meant for charities to pay for his personal expenses and to further his political ambitions.
Posey admitted over the course of the investigation to assisting Stockman in fraudulently soliciting $800,571.65 in donations from charitable organizations and their leaders based on false information and then laundering the money through fraudulent nonprofit organizations and bank accounts before spending it on personal and campaign expenses.
As the federal investigation into the scheme began, Stockman urged Posey to skip town. The former lawmaker directed Posey to flea to Cairo, Egypt, for 2 { years for Posey to avoid law enforcement questioning. Stockman was a founding member of the House's Caucus on Egypt when it was created in 2014.
