Must be written in IRAC format with 2 cases cited.
Assignment: Assignment 1 (following Class 2)
William Wentworth, a wealthy and influential business owner, had a vested interest in seeing his preferred candidate win the Senate election. Wentworth has unlimited monies but he is subject to the strict limits placed on individual contributions to one specific Senator’s campaigns.
Wentworth enlisted the assistance of his employees in making campaign contributions to candidates for federal office. He asked all one hundred employees to write $1,000 personal checks in order to make contributions to Senator Gomez’s federal election campaign. Wentworth immediately reimbursed the employees with cash or by check for the exact amount of the checks they wrote, thus circumventing the contribution limits by creating the false appearance that the employees were the source of the contributions.
The treasurers of Senator Gomez’s campaign were required to file reports, including contributor lists, with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Unknown to the campaign treasurers, the reports were false because Wentworth had successfully concealed the source of the contributions. The federal false statements statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1001, makes it a crime to knowingly and willfully falsify, conceal, or cover up a material fact or make a false statement in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch, including the Federal Election Commission.
Has Wentworth violated § 1001? Have the campaign treasurers violated § 1001? What mental state does 18 U.S.C. § 2 require? How does § 2 interface with § 1001?
Please cite applicable federal regulations, statutes or cases in support of your analysis.
