Woman faces 3 counts of lying to FBI, jury in case tied to Lexington council
A Kentucky woman was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury for lying to the FBI and making false statements about campaign contributions to Lexington council members during the investigation and February trial of a former Lexington real estate executive.
Elizabeth Stormbringer was charged with three counts related to lying about whether she was reimbursed by former CRM Executive Timothy Wayne Wellman for campaign contributions she made to Lexington council members in 2018. Wellman had a project the council would consider.
In February, Wellman was found guilty on 11 charges relating to obstructing a federal investigation into illegal contributions after a five-day trial. Federal prosecutors said Wellman circumvented state campaign finance limits prohibiting individuals from donating more than $2,000 to a candidate by giving money to more than a dozen straw contributors and then reimbursing them.
Stormbringer was one of several CRM employees who testified during the five-day trial. Some of those CRM employees testified they had made contributions to council candidates and were later reimbursed by Wellman.
According to the indictment released Thursday, Stormbringer lied to the FBI and later during the trial on whether Wellman had reimbursed her for a $1,000 contribution to a council candidate.
Wellman had given her a $1,000 check shortly after she had contributed. Stormbringer originally told the FBI it was for work she had completed for Wellman, not reimbursement for a campaign donation.
When Stormbringer testified before the federal grand jury in April, she changed her story.
Stormbringer told a grand jury Wellman had told her to contribute, and she would later be reimbursed. According to a transcript of that grand jury testimony included in the indictment, Stormbringer said: Wellman “came up to me and asked me to make a donation, which I did. And he, and he would reimburse me.”
Yet during the February trial, Stormbringer reversed course again.
She told Wellman’s lawyers the $1,000 was for work she had performed for Wellman for cleaning apartments. That was work she did outside of her employment at CRM.
But under cross-examination from federal prosecutors, Stormbringer said the $1,000 check was for reimbursement for her campaign contribution, the indictment alleged.
Stormbringer also allegedly lied about whether she had spoken to Wellman’s lawyers before the trial. At first, she said she had not spoken to the defense lawyers. Later she said she had.
The maximum penalty for all three counts is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Stormbringer is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 21.
Wellman was sentenced to 12 months in July. Wellman has appealed the verdict.
CRM Companies successfully bid in June 2018 on a proposal to move the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government from its downtown buildings to the Lexington Herald-Leader building on Midland Avenue.
Prosecutors alleged Wellman gave money to about 12 different people, or “straw contributors,” who donated that money to two sitting council members. Straw contributors are used to circumvent state laws limiting how much any one person can donate to a candidate.
The council ultimately voted not to move forward with negotiations with CRM Companies in September 2018. No allegations of wrongdoing were made against the council members.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 9:26 AM.
