Developer illegally donated to Swalwell campaigns
An East Bay real estate developer was convicted Tuesday of funneling illegal contributions through straw donors to the congressional campaigns of Rep. Eric Swalwell.
After a 10day trial, a federal court jury in Oakland found James Tong guilty of two counts of illegally arranging the contributions to Swalwell’s election campaign in 2012 and his 2014 reelection.
The funds totaled $38,000. Prosecutors said Tong, 74, of Fremont, pressured dozens of people to make individual contributions to Swalwell and used gobetweens to reimburse the money, exceeding the limits set by federal law of $2,500 for individual contributions to a congressional candidate in 2012 and $2,600 in 2014.
Swalwell, DDublin, said he first learned of the illicit contributions in 2017 when the FBI contacted him. He said his campaign was donating the sums to a local charity.
Tong, a prominent local developer, pleaded no contest in 2016 to violating environmental laws. He admitted that he and his company, Wildlife Management, had polluted a pond that provided habitat to the threatened California salamander and forged a document to hide the actions. He was ordered to pay $1 million to conservation funds and set aside 107 acres of land to protect endangered species.
Tong denied funneling the contributions to Swalwell. The congressman testified at his trial and said Tong had never asked him for any favors or tried to influence him, said Tong’s lawyer, Steven Gruel.
“Justice was served today for a campaign supporter of mine who violated the law,” Swalwell said Tuesday. “From the moment I was notified that my campaign was a victim of fraud, I assisted the FBI to obtain the records they needed to conduct their investigation. All the donations to my campaign in this case were subsequently donated to local charities.”
Tong sought to dismiss the charges before trial. His lawyers argued in court filings that prosecutors had promised not to use his admissions in the environmental case to open future cases against him, but used some of that information to launch their investigation of his campaign contributions.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar refused to dismiss the case. Gruel said he plans to revive the claim of a broken promise by prosecutors in Tong’s appeal.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13. San Francisco Chronicle Washington correspondent Tal Kopan contributed
to this report.