Ron Brown’s Son Gets Probation for Illegal Gift

A federal judge sentenced the son of the late Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown to three years’ probation and fined him $5,000 Friday for making an illegal contribution to a Senate campaign.

Michael A. Brown, 32, a Washington lawyer, admitted giving $2,000 to his secretary and $1,000 apiece to two co-workers to donate to the 1994 reelection campaign of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina also ordered Brown to perform 150 hours of community service and pay an additional $7,818 to cover the cost of supervised probation.

He pointedly rejected Brown’s request that he be excused from notifying his probation officer each time he left town on business trips.

The judge told Brown that he intended some “intrusion on your freedom and liberty.”

Brown pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor count of exceeding the $2,000 limit on contributions to a single candidate.

Prosecutors said he received $5,000 from Nora and Gene Lum as part of a scheme by the two Democratic fund-raisers to funnel $50,000 in illegal contributions through “straw donors,” who also included their daughter.

The Lums, who operate an Oklahoma natural-gas pipeline company, were each sentenced to 10 months in prison in September after guilty pleas.