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BLM endorses candidate facing wire fraud charge for diverting campaign, party funds for personal use

July 23, 2022 | | Print Article

The Black Lives Matter PAC has endorsed just one federal Democratic candidate this election cycle, and don’t you know, she has now been hit with a wire fraud charge for allegedly funneling campaign and party money to outside companies and individuals while pocketing some to cover personal things like her nasty gambling habit.

Former Louisiana Democratic Party chair and state Senator Karen Carter Peterson received more than $100,000 from the Black Lives Matter PAC, a committee affiliated with the BLM Global Network Foundation, to back her failed bid at a Congressional seat in July 2021, according to Fox News Digital.

By April, Peterson had resigned her state Senate seat due to mental health issues and an addiction to gambling, and this month, she was charged with a single count of wire fraud for her mishandling of the funds.

 

A July 14 press release from the Department of Justice noted that Peterson “formed and maintained a campaign organization, the ‘Karen Carter Peterson Campaign Fund (“KCPCF”),’ to solicit and raise campaign funds from individual and corporate donors. The campaign funds were solicited based upon the representations and premise that the funds would be used to facilitate PETERSON’S reelection for the position of State Senator.”

“In furtherance of her scheme,” continued the Eastern District of Louisiana’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, “PETERSON diverted, and caused her friends and associates to divert, campaign funds from the KCPCF to PETERSON’S personal use for the purpose of obtaining and using money and property from contributors to the KCPCF by means of materially false and fraudulent representations and promises for nearly seven (7) years.”

In the long-running scheme, Peterson allegedly sent campaign and party funds to four companies and four individuals who then cashed the checks and reportedly returned to Peterson “most or all” of the money.

Peterson then, the DOJ claims, filed “false and misleading campaign finance reports that mischaracterized expenditures as being for legitimate purposes related to her campaign or the holding of public office, but were, in fact, unrelated to such purposes and, instead, were diverted to PETERSON’S personal use.”

On the same day as the charges were announced, Peterson took to Twitter to apologize and blame her addiction for making her do it.

“Today marks an important step in my life-long recovery as I continue to address my gambling addiction,” she tweeted. “I sincerely apologize for the impact from my compulsive behavior resulting from this addiction.”

“I have made full repayment of funds used as a result of my addiction and I will continue to make amends,” she said. “Staying true to the steps of my ongoing recovery, I have been forthright, honest, and fully cooperative with the US Attorney’s Office in their investigation.”

And in case you missed the fact that she is the suffering victim in this situation, Peterson added the hashtags, “gamblingrecovery,” and “makingamends.”

Peterson is expected to appear in federal court on August 1. If convicted, she faces “a maximum term of twenty (20) years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000.00, up to three (3) years of supervised release after imprisonment, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee,” according to the Justice Department.

Last week, Peterson’s attorney, Brian Capitelli, told reporters his client has already entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Melissa Fine
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