A former chief of staff for California Gov. Gavin Newsom was arrested and charged Wednesday on allegations of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from campaign fund for Xavier Becerra. Photo by Jonathan Alcorn/UPI | License Photo
A political consultant and former chief of staff for California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been indicted on accusations of skimming campaign funds from former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Federal prosecutors said Dana Williamson, 53, of Carmichael, Calif., was arrested Wednesday morning. A 23-count federal indictment was then unsealed, charging her with a slew of conspiracy, fraud and other charges.
U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said in a statement that “this is a crucial step in an ongoing political corruption investigation that began more than three years ago,” during the administration of President Joe Biden.
According to the indictment, the elaborate scheme began in February 2022, Williamson, who still worked in public affairs and lobbying at the time, and Sean McCluskie, chief of staff to Becerra, the former attorney general of California who Biden made his secretary of Health and Human Services.
Because Becerra was elevated to the federal government in 2021, he was prohibited by law from engaging in campaign activities. This meant his state campaign account became dormant, and the campaign funds he already received were moved to a new account for a future campaign.
Federal prosecutors said that McCluskie was delegated the responsibility of arranging for the dormant campaign accounts to be monitored and overseen by a third party.
The court documents allege that Williamson and McCluskie entered an agreement in about February 2022 for her to charge the dormant campaign account $7,500 a month for purported consulting services and then transfer the payments to an account controlled by McCluskie but disguised as income for his wife.
In December 2022, as Williamson was preparing to join Newsom’s office, she allegedly arranged for an unnamed co-conspirator, identified in court documents as a former public official, to take over her role in concealing the payments to McCluskie.
Federal prosecutors allege that Williamson and the co-conspirators diverted about $225,000 in funds from the dormant political campaign.
The indictment also accuses her of filing false tax returns for more than $1 million in business deductions for private jet travel, luxury hotel stays, home furnishings and designer handbags.
She is also accused of creating false, backdated contracts after receiving a civil subpoena in January 2024 over Paycheck Protection Program loans made to her businesses.
If convicted, Williamson faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. She also faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and for making false statements. Finally, she faces up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine for each count of subscribing to a false tax return.
Williamson left Newsom’s office in 2024, after about two years of employment.
“While we are still learning details of the allegations, the governor expects all public servants to uphold the highest standards of integrity,” Izzy Gardon, a Newsom spokesperson, told The New York Times in a statement.
“At a time when the president is openly calling for his attorney general to investigate his political enemies, it is especially important to honor the American principle of being innocent until proven guilty in a court of law by a jury of one’s peers.”
