U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that LSA Strategies LLC, a media production and political consulting firm located in Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny to wire fraud and faces a penalty up to $500,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Bonanno, who is handling the case, stated that Steven M. Casey organized LSA Strategies under the laws of New York State on June 6, 2012. Between August 20 and September 19, 2012, LSA Strategies devised a scheme to defraud a candidate (Candidate 1) running for the New York State Senate 60th District.
Steven Casey provided consulting services to Candidate 1, including arranging for campaign mailings to be printed by Company 1. In doing so, Casey requested that Company 1 increase each of its invoices to Candidate 1 by a specified amount. However, Casey did not inform Candidate 1 of the increase in the amount of the invoices, rather Casey led the candidate to believe that he was working on a voluntary basis. Candidate 1 was unaware that Company 1’s invoices were being increased to provide sums of money to Casey and LSA. After Candidate 1 paid the invoices, Company 1 paid LSA the amount by which the invoices had been increased. In total, Company 1 paid LSA $8,283.59.
(Editor’s Note: candidate 1 is confirmed to be former Erie County Legislator and Conservative Party candidate Chuck Swanick)
