WASHINGTON, D.C. – Donald M. Boucher, 72, the former director of government relations of a private health care company located in Plano, Texas, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer to illegally contributing approximately $50,000 in corporate money over a five-year period to federal political campaigns, thereby causing false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.
According to plea documents, between about April 1997 and continuing until about December 2002, Boucher and David B. LeBlanc, the company’s former president and chief executive officer, knowingly obtained corporate funds and then used those funds to make approximately $50,000 in prohibited corporate contributions to political committees in their own names. In furtherance of this scheme, Boucher admitted to falsely reporting to a political committee that three individuals paid certain expenses in connection with a campaign fundraiser when, in fact, Boucher’s corporate employer paid for those expenses.
The maximum sentence for causing false statements to be made to the FEC is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Boucher’s sentencing is set for Sept. 19, 2006. He also entered into a civil settlement with the FEC and paid a $50,000 fine.
In a related prosecution, LeBlanc pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola on March 24, 2006, to illegally contributing approximately $50,000 in corporate money over a five-year period to federal political campaigns, in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act. In connection with his plea, LeBlanc agreed to pay a $100,000 fine to the FEC.
This case is being prosecuted by trial attorneys Matthew C. Solomon and Nicholas A. Marsh of the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division, headed by Acting Section Chief Andrew Lourie. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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