Executive gets one year in state prison for campaign case linked to Lexington council
A former Lexington real estate executive was sentenced to a year in state prison after pleading guilty to 16 counts of campaign finance violations related to the May 2018 Lexington council primary.
Fayette Circuit Court Judge Ernesto Scorsone sentenced Timothy Wayne Wellman, a former CRM Companies executive, Friday to one year on each of the 16 counts with the sentences to run concurrently for a total of one year. Wellman pleaded guilty to all 16 counts in October.
A spokesperson for the Jefferson Commonwealth Attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, said Monday that Wellman had filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. A hearing on that motion will likely be later this week.
Wellman, 67, must also serve one year in federal prison after a federal jury in February found him guilty on 11 charges relating to obstructing a federal investigation into alleged illegal contributions to Lexington council members in the May 2018 election.
Federal prosecutors say Wellman circumvented state campaign finance limits prohibiting individuals from donating more than $2,000 to a candidate by using more than a dozen straw contributors and then reimbursing them.
During the federal trial, Wellman was accused of asking those straw contributors to lie to the FBI or a federal grand jury about those campaign donations.
Prosecutors said Wellman wanted to funnel money to certain Lexington council candidates because CRM Companies had proposed buying the former Lexington Herald-Leader building on Midland Avenue, renovating and expanding it and turning it into a new Lexington city government center. The council was considering various options for a new city government center at the time of the May 2018 primary.
Federal prosecutors have said the council candidates who received those campaign donations were not accused of any wrongdoing.
According to documents filed in the state court case, special prosecutors from the Jefferson Commonwealth Attorney’s office had recommended Wellman receive probation for the 16 counts of violating state campaign finance laws that prohibit individuals from donating more than $2,000 per candidate.
Wellman must report for prison on Dec. 26.
Wellman has appealed the February federal court conviction and his one-year sentence to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, the fallout from Wellman’s campaign finance case continues.
In early December, Elizabeth Stormbringer, a former employee who testified during Wellman’s February federal trial, was charged with multiple counts of lying about whether Wellman reimbursed her for campaign donations she made to council candidates. Federal prosecutors allege Stormbringer changed her story several times.
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 3:32 PM.
