A 70-year-old investor who walked away from his U.S. citizenship is now headed to a U.S. prison. On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced Roger Hoffman to 20 months behind bars and ordered him to pay a $150,000 fine after prosecutors said he funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into American elections despite no longer being a citizen. Hoffman, a self-employed investor originally from Madison, pleaded guilty last September to a single count of making illegal donations, according to court records.
U.S. District Judge James Peterson handed down the sentence in Madison and, according to the Associated Press, described Hoffman’s conduct as “a resolute pattern of dishonesty.” The AP reports that Hoffman became a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis in January 2009 and formally renounced his U.S. citizenship in July 2021, according to a 2021 grand jury indictment.
How Prosecutors Say He Moved the Money
Court documents show Hoffman did not write the checks in his own name. Instead, he used an assistant identified only as M.W. as a conduit to steer more than $400,000 into state and federal elections over more than a decade, WRAL reported. In a plea agreement, prosecutors said they could prove roughly $345,000 in illegal federal campaign contributions between 2010 and 2020, though public filings do not spell out which campaigns received the money.
Why Federal Law Matters
Federal law makes it illegal for foreign nationals to contribute to U.S. campaigns, a prohibition laid out at 52 U.S.C. § 30121 and implemented through regulations such as 11 C.F.R. § 110.20. The Cornell Legal Information Institute explains that the ban covers both direct donations and contributions made through another person acting as a go-between.
What the Sentence Means
The sentence, which includes 20 months in prison and a $150,000 fine, effectively closes the criminal case against Hoffman but leaves a big question hanging: which campaigns got the cash. The Associated Press reported that the U.S. attorney’s office declined to immediately provide a list of recipients and instead issued a news release summarizing the judge’s remarks at sentencing.
For Wisconsin voters and campaigns, the case serves as a pointed reminder that both donors and the people who move money for them can face criminal penalties when they cross federal election law. Court records and news reports show prosecutors treat schemes that hide a foreign national’s role the same as direct illegal donations when they can prove the conduct in court.
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