Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – A federal grand jury indicted two men who operated fraudulent political action boards during the 2016 U.S. elections and collected about $3.5million from unwitting donors, according to the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday.

According to the indictment, Matthew Tunstall (Kyle Davies) and Robert Reyes solicited support for two PACs through robocalls as well as written solicitations. It is alleged that these individuals supported 2016, according to Robert Reyes.

According to the Justice Department’s statement, both political action committees were named Liberty Action Group PAC or Progressive (NYSE.) Priorities PAC.

According to the Justice Department, the defendants allegedly obtained $3.5 million in unwitting donations between January 2016 & April 2017. These funds were based upon false and misleading representations. The proceeds were used to support their personal enrichment and pay for fraudulent advertising soliciting donations.

Tunstall, Reyes and another third-party vendor were also accused of laundering more than $350,000 from the scheme to conceal their ownership.

According to the Justice Department the charges against the men included conspiracy to commit fraud by wire and make false statements to Federal Election Commission (FEC), numerous counts of wire fraud and multiple counts money laundering. Reuters couldn’t reach the men to comment.

The Justice Department stated Wednesday that if convicted, Tunstall or Reyes could face a total maximum penalty of 125 year imprisonment and Davies a total maximum penalty of 65 years.