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Ryan Ogulnick, an Orange County developer, is facing a $87,000 fine from the Fair Political Practices Commission, the state’s campaign finance watchdog, for an alleged political money laundering scheme in Santa Ana.
“This is an outlier,” said Commissioner Alf Brandt during Thursday’s commission meeting. “This is nuts.”
The commission found he illegally hid the source of over $300,000 that was spent on mailers in Santa Ana’s 2018 city council elections, laying out their allegations in a stipulated settlement with Ogulnick.
At least one commissioner is calling on OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer to investigate.
“Refer it to the local district attorney and let them use their discretion and their analysis to see if there are criminal violations here as well. That’s my suggestion,” Commissioner Catharine Baker said at Thursday’s meeting.
Ogulnick violated the state’s Political Reform Act by allegedly laundering campaign money, failing to comply with ad disclosure requirements and committing campaign filing violations, according to the FPPC’s stipulated settlement.
On Thursday, state commissioners approved a stipulation to fine Ogulnick $87,000 for his involvement in an alleged illegal dark money campaign seven years ago, describing it as one of the most complex and egregious cases they’ve seen.
According to the FPPC stipulated settlement: “Respondents (including Ogulnick) agree to the issuance of the decision and order set forth below. Also, respondents agree to the Commission imposing against them an administrative penalty in the amount of $87,000.”
Gary Winuk, Ogulnick’s attorney, did not respond to emailed questions on the decision Thursday.
To read the FPPC stipulation, click here.
James Lindsay, enforcement chief for the Fair Political Practices Commission, said it’s the highest penalty they’ve imposed on an administrative matter in more than five years.
“I think that the public would feel like we moved very hard on this one. I mean, $87,000 penalty is a significant amount of money. That’s a yearly salary for a lot of individuals,” he said during Thursday’s meeting.
Others say Ogulnick should face greater consequences and fines.
Dale Helvig, a Santa Ana resident, called on the commission to impose a greater fine on Ogulnick in a Feb. 6 letter sent to Lindsay, arguing the $87,000 fine was “inadequate considering his blatant and unlawful actions.”
“Reducing the penalty to $87,000 is not right or fair to the residents of Santa Ana,” he wrote. “Hold Ogulnick accountable for illegally trying to influence the outcome of a free and fair election. Adjust the penalty to the maximum amount possible.”
Helvig also called on the commission to recommend OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer prosecute Ogulnick for alleged money laundering.
Commissioner Baker echoed Helvig’s sentiment, asking what could be the greatest fine placed on Ogulnick.
Lindsay said $87,000 was roughly 85% of the maximum value in fines they could impose on Ogulnick and there was incentive for him to settle the issue if they seeked the maximum penalty – something they don’t typically do.
Kimberly Edds, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Origins of a $320K Dark Money Campaign
The violations stem from $320,000 in dark money that flowed through a political action committee and was spent on mailers opposing current Santa Ana City Councilman Phil Bacerra and supporting his opponent Roman Reyna in the 2018 election.
Reyna went on to win the election, but later resigned and pleaded guilty to felony election fraud charges for not living in the district he was elected to represent.
Bacerra, who won the council seat in a special election in 2019, was a city planning commissioner who opposed a development project by Ogulnick in Santa Ana.
The dark money was also spent in support of 2018 Santa Ana mayoral candidate Sal Tinajero and Ward 2 council candidate Sandra Peña Sarmiento, according to FPPC’s stipulated settlement.
The committee dubbed Californians for Ethical Patient Care, Yes on Tinajero for Mayor and Sarmiento and Reyna for City Council; No on Bacerra for City Council, Santa Ana 2018 was funded by two development companies both owned in part by Ogulnick.
“The LLC respondents did not want to be disclosed as the true sources of the contributions to the PAC, and for this reason, they made their contributions through an intermediary company,” reads the stipulation.
Under state law, it is illegal to hide the source of local or state campaign money by running it through an intermediary group and failing to disclose the original source.
The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission launched the investigation into the political action committee nearly seven years ago, at the end of 2018.
[Read: State Investigating Secretive Group That Routed $170,000 to Santa Ana Election]
In the past, Ogulnick denied involvement with the dark money spent on the mailers.
However, according to the FPPC investigation, Ogulnick was heavily involved with the political action committee behind the scenes.
“At all relevant times, Ogulnick was involved with the PAC and its vendors with respect to important decisions involving the timing, contents, and financing of the PAC’s advertisements,” reads the stipulation.
“Ogulnick performed duties similar to a principal officer of the PAC, but he was not disclosed as such.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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