A Texas man has received an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to filing a false report with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and committing credit card fraud, authorities announced. Christopher Richardson, 37, had formed a Super PAC named Americans for Progressive Action USA (AFPA) and used it as a front for illegal financial activities, including the use of fictitious names and transactions.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden and came after Richardson, with a prior conviction for bank fraud, pleaded guilty on charges related to the misrepresentation of financial activity within his Super PAC and subsequent fraudulent credit card transactions. Court documents detailed that Richardson had filed reports with the FEC which falsely claimed that AFPA had raised and refunded millions of dollars. In an additional fraudulent endeavor, Richardson employed an alias to obtain a credit card and rack up approximately 200 transactions.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s (TIGTA) Cybercrime Investigations Division. After the comprehensive inquiry, which culminated in Richardson's March 2020 admission of guilt, his conviction led to a three-year supervised release following his prison term.
Prosecutors Ryan R. Crosswell of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Gold and Ahmed Baset, tasked with Richardson’s prosecution, successfully argued the severity of his offenses as affronts to the integrity of the electoral process and the financial system. The investigation revealed that Richardson created multiple fictitious entities and donors to give the illusion of a legitimate political fundraising effort, thereby undermining trust in campaign finance operations. Richardson also fraudulently utilized a credit card to make purchases under the guise of one of the phantom donors he had invented.
