FORMER OKLAHOMA STATE LEGISLATOR PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO CAUSE SUBMISSION OF FALSE STATEMENTS TO THE FEC

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff of the Criminal Division announced today that James E. Lane, 68, a former Oklahoma state legislator and the driver for Walter L. Roberts during his 1998 congressional campaign in Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause the submission of false statements, a felony violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.

The plea occurred this morning before the Honorable James Robertson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

In his plea today, Lane admitted that during the campaign he received $46,980 in checks from Charlene Spears, former Oklahoma State Senator Gene Stipe's personal assistant, which he in turn used to pay campaign expenditures for the Roberts campaign, knowing that these expenditures would never be reported, as legally required, to the Federal Election Commission. In documents filed in connection with Lane's plea, Lane also admits to committing several FEC violations, and to obstructing the FEC investigation of the 1998 campaign by providing false and misleading statements about a $20,500 campaign contribution.

Lane is the third person to enter a guilty plea to charges arising from Roberts's 1998 congressional campaign. On March 5, 2003, Roberts pleaded guilty to a two-count information which charged felony conspiracy to obstruct an FEC investigation and a misdemeanor conspiracy to violate FECA. Roberts admitted acting with others to surreptitiously and illegally transfer over $150,000 in funds to his campaign and to obstruct the FEC's investigation into those payments. On March 21, 2003, Spears pleaded guilty to the same charges as Roberts, and admitted to orchestrating a conduit contribution scheme involving at least 20 straw donors. As part of his plea agreement, Lane, like Roberts and Spears, has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department's ongoing investigation of this matter.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to cause the submission of false statements is five years of imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. Lane's sentencing is set for June 16, 2003 at 9 a.m.

The case is being prosecuted by trial attorneys Howard Sklamberg and Matthew Solomon of the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice, and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma City Division, after a criminal referral by the FEC.

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