Two Virginia businessmen, William Danielczyk and Eugene Biagi, pleaded guilty Feb. 26 to charges of violating campaign finance laws by funneling nearly $200,000 in corporate contributions to campaign committees of Hillary Clinton, the former senator from New York and secretary of state (U.S. v. Danielczyk, E.D. Va., Criminal No. 11-85, pleas entered 2/26/13).
Plea agreements signed in the case indicated that Danielczyk could face five years in prison as a result of the long-running criminal case, while Biagi faces probable probation and a fine. They are due to be sentenced May 17.
Danielczyk and Biagi agreed to plead guilty in an unexpected move on the day a trial was set to begin in their case in federal court in Alexandria, Va. The development came a day after the Supreme Court said it would not take up a challenge to the century-old federal ban on corporate campaign contributions, which stemmed from a pre-trial ruling in the case (U.S. v. Danielczyk, U.S. No. 12-579, cert. denied 2/25/13; 3456 Money & Politics Report, 2/26/13).