Lexington businessman accused of campaign violations faces new federal charges
A real estate executive who was accused of lying about campaign contributions to Lexington council candidates in 2018 pleaded not guilty Wednesday to three new federal charges.
Timothy Wayne Wellman, a former executive with CRM Companies, was indicted by a federal grand jury in June on eight counts of allegedly lying and instructing others to lie about campaign contributions they made to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council candidates prior to the May 2018 primary.
The June federal indictment accused Wellman of using 12 straw contributors to give to council campaigns and then repaying those straw contributors. State campaign finance law limits individual contributions to $2,000 per cycle.
A federal grand jury released a superseding indictment on Jan 2 that lists three new charges. Those new charges include abetting and convincing a straw contributor to falsify documents that say the money Wellman paid the person was for services. The straw contributor, identified in court documents as TS, produced invoices which falsely purported to reflect work TS had done on a website, the indictment says.
In a separate charge, Wellman is accused of allegedly creating a fake hand-written loan repayment ledger that showed a loan by him to another straw contributor.
Wellman also is accused of falsifying an IRS Form 1099. The indictment alleges that form falsely reflected payment to a straw contributor for tax preparation services.
Kent Wicker, a lawyer for Wellman, said the superseding indictment contains little new information. Wicker entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Wellman on Wednesday during an arraignment in federal court in Lexington.
“There is nothing new in the superseding indictment, just a re-phrasing of the original charges,” Wicker said. “The charges are false, and we look forward to defending them in court.”
The June indictment alleges Wellman and the straw contributors falsified documents to cover up the scheme but Wellman was not charged with falsifying documents or causing others to falsify documents in the June indictment.
The names of the straw contributors have not been released nor have they been charged with any wrongdoing. The council members who received the donations have also not been named and have not been accused of wrongdoing.
A trial on the federal charges is scheduled to begin Feb. 18 in Frankfort.
In addition to the federal charges, Wellman was indicted on 16 state campaign finance violations in August. Wellman has pleaded not guilty in that case and has asked a Fayette Circuit Court judge to dismiss the state charges.
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 9:50 AM.
