Indian American political consultant sentenced to 15 months for funneling illegal foreign fund

Indian American Ravneet Singh has been found guilty by the court for using his specialized skills and knowledge to facilitate illegal funding of San Diego mayoral elections in 2012.

Indian American political consultant Ravneet Singh, who is also the former CEO of ElectionMall Technologies, was sentenced for 15 months and slapped with $10,000 fine on Friday.

According to the Department of Justice, Singh funneled more than $600,000 in illegal foreign campaign contributions from Mexican citizen Jose Susumo Azano Matsura to candidates in the 2012 San Diego mayoral election.

In September 2016, after six weeks of trial and five days of deliberations, a federal jury in San Diego returned guilty verdicts against Singh, Azano and Azano’s son, Edward Susumo, who were convicted of felony counts associated with a series of illegal campaign contributions by Azano to the campaigns of Bonnie Dumanis and Bob Filner.

“American elections are not for sale,” said Executive U.S. Attorney Blair Perez. “We will not allow our sacred electoral process to be compromised. This prison sentence underscores an important message: Anyone who tries to manipulate the American electorate will pay a high price.”

“Public corruption undermines the strength and confidence in our system of government which is why these cases are a top criminal priority for the FBI,” said Special Agent in Charge Eric S. Birnbaum. “Today’s sentence stands as a stark condemnation of Azano’s and Singh’s willful efforts to undermine the fundamental principles of our representative democracy. The American people can count on the FBI to continue to bring these complex, sensitive, and important cases to justice.”

“Using a series of complex financial transactions, Mr. Singh conspired to funnel illegal money to influence the outcome of San Diego political races,” stated Special Agent in Charge R. Damon Rowe of IRS Criminal Investigation. “IRS Criminal Investigation remains committed to the fight against campaign finance crimes. This case exemplifies the strong impact we are making in this arena working in cooperation with our law enforcement partners.”

The evidence presented during the trial suggested that Azano, Singh, and others conspired to funnel thousands of dollars in cash and in-kind consulting services to the Bonnie Dumanis and Bob Filner campaigns.

This was despite the fact that Azano’s foreign national status made such contributions illegal. To conceal his illicit connection to these contributions, Azano arranged with his son Edward Hester and others to funnel this illegal foreign money through corporate and third person “straw donor” contributions.

According to the court documents, the conspirators, arranged for at least $267,000 worth of Singh’s in-kind consulting services to be secretly funneled to the campaigns.

In return for his political contributions, Azano sought to buy political influence. And ultimately, with his help, Filner won the election, though he was forced to resign shortly thereafter.

Singh has been found guilty by the court for using his specialized skills and knowledge to facilitate the crimes. He was also found to have used code names for the Dumanis and Filner work that Azano paid for but never for any other domestic candidate for office.

Singh has been also found guilty of receiving wire payment from Azano by structuring the wires from his Mexican company, Broadlink, to eSolutions, owned by Singh, which primarily developed software from India.