A federal appeals court has reinstated criminal charges against plaintiffs attorney Pierce O’Donnell after concluding that the section of the Federal Election Campaign Act on which he was charged applied to conduit, or indirect, campaign contributions, not just to contributions made under false names.
O’Donnell of O’Donnell & Associates in Los Angeles was indicted on charges that he reimbursed 13 employees of his law firm and others who had contributed $26,000 in 2003 to the presidential campaign of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
