WhatsApp messages have revealed how a prominent MEP for Nigel Farage's Brexit Party took bribes as part of a pro-Russian influence campaign in the European Parliament.
Nathan Gill, who went on to become leader of Reform UK in Wales, has been jailed after admitting taking money from an alleged "pawn" of the main security agency in Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Gill was paid thousands of pounds to give TV interviews in favour of a key Putin ally and to make speeches in the European Parliament between December 2018 and July 2019.
The 52-year-old father-of-seven had pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery and was sentenced to 10 and a half years at the Old Bailey on Friday.
Prosecutors found WhatsApp chats between Gill and a Ukrainian called Oleg Voloshyn, a former member of the Ukraine Parliament for a pro-Russian party.
Gill, an MEP for six years, was also paid to host Putin's most trusted associate in Ukrainian politics at the parliament in Strasbourg.
The problem with foreign influence on our elections far precedes the recently exposed proxy funding of Obama's election. 6/23/2000 New York Times:
Mr. Gore then replied, "Well, that's right. That is more accurate. Let me, let me amend that. That was first time it was alleged to be, to have been a fund-raiser."
The Hsi Lai event, which was held on April 29, 1996 in Hacienda Heights, Calif., was one of the most embarrassing episodes of the 1996 campaign finance scandal. The event was organized by Maria Hsia, a longtime political ally of the vice president who had collected money before the event from monks and nuns, some of whom had taken vows of poverty.
As a tax-exempt religious institution, the temple was not allowed to serve as a venue for political fund-raising or to make political donations itself. Mr. Gore was asked repeatedly in late 1996 and 1997 about whether he knew the event was a fund-raiser, and according to Mr. Conrad responded with differing statements.
Ms. Hsia was convicted in March for hiding $109,000 in illegal contributions and making false statements to federal regulators about the temple luncheon. She is awaiting sentencing.
More from the far left 2/19/01 American Prospect:
The Buddhist temple. In April 1996, Gore attended a fundraising luncheon at the Hsi Lai Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights, California. This event, which was organized by Maria Hsia and John Huang, raised $166,750 for the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Much of this money was raised illegally; the laws broken were far from being trivial or outdated. There were $55,000 in contributions laundered through monks and nuns, who made the contributions in their own names and were then reimbursed by the temple from its general funds. At least three of the contributors were foreign nationals. In addition the temple, which enjoys tax-exempt status as a religious institution, was used illegally for partisan politics. Insofar as the monks were reimbursed with temple funds that came from tax-free donations, American taxpayers indirectly subsidized Gore’s fundraising effort.
An Indonesian businessman has agreed to plead guilty to making illegal campaign contributions to US President Bill Clinton, US officials said.I sometimes wonder how much of Tucker Carlson's Hitler whitewashing is his pursuit of clicks vs. foreign funding.
The US Justice Department said that billionaire James Riady had agreed to pay an $8.6m fine for contributing foreign funds - the largest fine ever levied in a campaign finance case.
Mr Riady pledged $1m in 1992 to back Mr Clinton, then Arkansas governor.
Foreign campaign contributions are illegal under American law.
The businessman has agreed to surrender and was scheduled to appear before a judge in Los Angeles on Tuesday, despite Indonesia having no extradition treaty with the US.
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