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Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and four co-conspirators were indicted Wednesday on 23 counts of bank and wire fraud, allegedly committed from 2022 to 2024, during her time working for the governor.
The indictment, first reported by the Sacramento Bee, alleges that Williamson, a longtime Democratic strategist, worked with Greg Campbell, a prominent Sacramento lobbyist, and Sean McCluskie, the former chief of staff to former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, as well as two other unnamed co-conspirators to steal $225,000 from an unnamed former official’s dormant campaign account for McCluskie’s personal use.
“Collectively, they funneled the money through various business entities and disguised it as pay for what was, in reality, a no-show job,” FBI Sacramento Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel said in a news release.
Prosecutors allege that Williamson and one of the unnamed co-conspirators, described only as a former California public official who owned a political consulting firm, used their political strategy firms to funnel money out of a campaign account, believed to be Becerra’s, into an account controlled by McCluskie. They allegedly disguised the funds as payments for McCluskie’s spouse, who was described in the indictment as a stay-at-home parent.
Williamson is also accused of falsely claiming more than $1.7 million in business expenses on her taxes. She used the funds to purchase a $15,000 Chanel handbag and earrings, a chartered jet trip and a nearly $170,000 birthday trip to Mexico, the indictment alleges. She is also accused of conspiring to retroactively create fake contracts to justify federal loans made to her company, Grace Public Affairs.
Campbell and McCluskie each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and are cooperating with investigators, according to newly unsealed court records. Campbell also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Williamson, wearing what appeared to be a gray robe and in shackles, broke into tears from time to time at her arraignment hearing Wednesday afternoon in Sacramento. She pleaded not guilty to the charges and her attorney demanded a jury trial. Williamson is expected to be released on a $500,000 unsecured bond and put her house up as collateral. She has until Nov. 26 to post bond.
She will be released under supervision and must surrender her passport and other travel documents, among other conditions for her release. Her attorney, Matthew Rowan, declined to speak to reporters following the arraignment.
Williamson, who previously held a high-level position in Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, was well known for her negotiating ability. When she left his office, Newsom said in a statement that he would miss her "insight, tenacity and big heart.”
Co-conspirator inherited Williamson's books
Through campaign finance reports, CalMatters confirmed that the second unnamed co-conspirator is Alexis Podesta, a well-known Sacramento Democratic political consultant who previously served as a secretary under Gov. Jerry Brown and serves on the State Compensation Insurance Fund.
Campaign finance records show a total of $180,000, mostly in $10,000 increments, from the dormant "Becerra for Superintendent of Public Instruction 2030" committee to "Podesta Company” between 2023 and 2024. She then transferred that money to an account held by McCluskie’s spouse, purportedly for consulting services.
Bill Portonova, Podesta’s attorney, said his client had inherited Williamson’s client portfolio when she left to become Newsom’s chief of staff in late 2022 and did not know the payments were fraudulent. Once she "was advised that these payments were not proper, the payments immediately ended. Podesta has not been charged and is cooperating with federal investigators, Portanova said.
Charges are "a gut punch" for Becerra
The indictment indicated that Becerra also had no knowledge of the scheme, and he confirmed as much Wednesday afternoon in a written statement via his spokesperson, Owen Kilmer.
“The news today of formal accusations of impropriety by a long-serving trusted advisor are a gut punch,” said Becerra, a prominent candidate to succeed Newsom in next year’s gubernatorial election. He added that he had fully cooperated with the U.S. Justice Department and would continue to do so.
“As California’s former Attorney General, I fully comprehend the importance of allowing this investigation and legal process to run its course through our justice system.”
A spokesperson for Newsom distanced the governor from his former top aide.
“While we are still learning details of the allegations, the governor expects all public servants to uphold the highest standards of integrity,” said Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s spokesperson, in a written statement.
Patel, the special agent in charge, said in a news release that the charges were “the result of three years of relentless investigative work.”
Prosecuting attorney Michael Anderson said Wednesday that prosecutors will hand over more than 27,000 pages of documents and an additional 750 gigabytes of evidence related to the case as part of the discovery process.
Campbell’s attorney, Todd Pickles, said his client “takes full accountability for his actions and is cooperating fully with the legal process.” An attorney for McCluskie, Daniel Olmos, did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
If convicted, Williamson could face more than 20 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines for all the charges.
CalMatters' Yue Stella Yu contributed to this report.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
