Wake County won’t open criminal investigation into campaign donations tied to DeJoy
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a prominent North Carolina businessman and prolific Republican donor, will not face a Wake County criminal investigation into alleged violations of state campaign finance laws.
State authorities, meanwhile, haven’t revealed whether they have opened their own investigation.
A North Carolina watchdog group filed a complaint in September, calling for an investigation into allegations that DeJoy urged employees to make political contributions and then reimbursed the workers with bonuses.
The Washington Post reported the allegations last year, citing five former New Breed Logistics employees. The Post reported that New Breed employees gave more than $1 million between 2000 and 2014 to state and federal Republican candidates with former Gov. Pat McCrory and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis among the biggest recipients.
Reimbursing employees for political contributions is against North Carolina and U.S. law. It is a felony in North Carolina to “intentionally violate” campaign contribution law in excess of $10,000.
But Wake County found no reason to investigate further.
“Our review did not identify recent state campaign law violations that warranted opening a criminal investigation,” Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said in response to emailed questions about the status of her review into the matter. “Violations of federal campaign finance law would have to be investigated and prosecuted by the US Attorney’s office.”
DeJoy was appointed postmaster general in May by the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors — all of whom had been selected by President Donald Trump. DeJoy was a major political donor to Republicans, including Trump. He served as a finance chair for the Republican National Committee and was leading fundraising efforts for the 2020 Republican National Convention, originally scheduled for Charlotte.
His leadership of the Postal Service has been controversial, as DeJoy has implemented a number of measures aimed at cost savings that have contributed to lengthy service delays.
Common Cause NC filed its complaint with the State Board of Elections and also asked Attorney General Josh Stein’s office to investigate. Campaign finance complaints and investigations are confidential under state law, and the attorney general’s office said it does not have the authority to conduct an investigation.
“We are continuing to press for answers and hopeful that this complaint indeed might lead to some activity to investigate Postmaster DeJoy and his campaign contributions in the past. But as of right now we don’t know anything,” Bob Phillips, Common Cause’s executive director, said this month. “We’re like everyone else interested in this, wanting to know what the State Board of Elections might do. We’re still waiting along with everyone else.”
At a congressional hearing in August, DeJoy denied giving bonuses or rewards to employees who donated to the Trump campaign. He called it an “outrageous claim” and said he was not working at New Breed Logistics during Trump’s presidential campaigns.
DeJoy was the CEO of the company from 1983 to 2014. In 2014, New Breed Logistics was sold for more than $600 million.
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