Second person charged with lying to jury, FBI in case connected to Lexington council
A grand jury has indicted a Kentucky man with allegedly lying to federal investigators and jurors about campaign contributions to Lexington city council members.
Jeffrey Glenn Collins, a then-employee of CRM Companies, faces two counts related to a $1,000 contribution he gave during the May 2018 Lexington council primaries, according to Thursday’s indictment. The lies allegedly occurred during the investigation and trial of former real estate executive Timothy Wayne Wellman, who worked for CRM.
No allegations of wrongdoing were made against council members.
Collins is the second employee of CRM Companies to be charged. In December, Elizabeth Stormbringer was charged with three counts of lying to federal investigators about whether Wellman had repaid her for campaign contributions.
In February 2020, Wellman was found guilty on 11 charges relating to obstructing a federal investigation into illegal contributions. In a five-day trial, federal prosecutors said Wellman circumvented state campaign finance limits prohibiting individuals from donating more than $2,000 to a candidate. He used a dozen straw contributors to give to council campaigns and then reimbursed the contributors.
Prosecutors allege Wellman was trying to sway council members to allow CRM Companies to receive a contract to renovate and expand a building for a new city hall. That deal never happened.
During Wellman’s trial, several current and former CRM employees testified that Wellman told them to tell federal investigators the checks Wellman wrote them to cover those campaign contributions were for other work.
According to the Thursday indictment, Collins told a grand jury that he made a $1,000 campaign donation at Wellman’s request. Wellman later issued him a check for $1,000. Collins also told the grand jury that Wellman told him the FBI was investigating the contributions, and if Collins was asked, he should tell the FBI the $1,000 was for a lease.
Yet, Collins reversed during Wellman’s February trial and said Wellman’s $1,000 check was for work connected to a lease. Collins also denied Wellman had coached him on what to say to federal investigators.
“He did not tell me to make a false statement, Collins testified in February. “He — we discussed that the check was for leasing.”
For each count, Collins could face up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
Wellman was sentenced in July to 12 months in prison on the federal charges. 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 now former Lexington Herald-Leader building on Midland Avenue.
The council ultimately voted in September 2018 not to move forward with negotiations with CRM Companies.
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 10:05 AM.
