United States v. O'Donnell

Pierce O’Donnell was indicted for contributing $26,000 of his money to the Edwards for President campaign through 13 individuals—primarily employees of his law firm—with the understanding that he would either advance them funds or reimburse them after the contribution was made. In June 2009, a federal district court dismissed two counts of the indictment that were based on a federal law provision, finding that the provision applied only to contributions made under false names, and not to a person’s reimbursement of the contributions made by others to a political campaign. In June 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court decision and held that federal law “prohibits straw donor contributions, in which a defendant solicits others to donate to a candidate for federal office in their own names and furnishes the money for the gift either through an advance or a prearranged reimbursement.”