2 Tribal Leaders Guilty in Campaign Donation Case
Two executives at the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians’ gambling casino in Indio pleaded guilty Thursday to funneling thousands of dollars in illegal contributions to the 1996 reelection campaign of President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
Marc Nichols, chief executive of the Cabazon Band, and Greg Cervantes, the tribe’s special affairs director, admitted in federal court in Los Angeles that they enlisted workers at the tribal-owned casino in Riverside County to make contributions totaling $41,000 to the Clinton-Gore campaign. The workers were then reimbursed with tribal money, federal prosecutors said.
The contributions exceeded the $2,000 limit federal law places on campaign donations from any single donor, including Indian tribes.
In announcing the guilty pleas, U.S. Atty. Alejandro N. Mayorkas said that the two executives were non-Indians and stressed that “the Cabazon Band did not approve the illegal contributions and has cooperated with the investigation.”
He added that “there is no evidence that any of the candidates, any members of their staffs, or any campaign workers had any knowledge of the true source of the illegal contributions.”
Under plea agreements with the government, Nichols, 41, of Riverside, will be fined $200,000 and serve three years’ probation. He also must pay the Federal Election Commission a $56,000 civil fine. Cervantes, 38, of Coachella, will be fined $13,000 and be put on probation for a year. He must pay a $26,000 fine to the FEC.
The two men are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 10.
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