A federal judge sentenced a Texas man for scamming people out of more than $500,000 with fake political action committees claiming to support presidential candidates.
Kyle Gerald Prall, a 40-year-old man from Austin, Texas, pleaded guilty to mail fraud after federal authorities connected him to several fake political fundraising accounts.
In May, the Department of Justice arrested Prall after realizing he set up fake PAC accounts under the guise of supporting candidates such as President Trump, Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Hillary Clinton.
The accounts — which were named Feel Bern, HC4President, and Trump Victory — solicited donations in support of candidates, raking in more than a half-million dollars.
Prall claimed the donations would be used to help candidates get votes by recruiting volunteers and driving voters to the polls on Election Day. Instead, Prall pocketed nearly half of the money by pouring it into a sham LLC he operated.
He transferred himself $205,496. Only $5,100 was donated to political operations.
Beyond sending money to himself, Prall used donor’s debit cards to pay for restaurants, hotels, and “club dances performed by entertainers.”
Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski slammed Prall in a statement, saying, “Prall exploited the honest political engagement of countless citizens by representing that his organizations were supporting presidential candidates when in fact he was just stealing contributions.”
Prall was sentenced to serve 36 months in prison for his crimes, in addition to forfeiting the money he had transferred himself and repaying the $548,428 collected by his sham PAC accounts.
