Former Indiana congressional candidate gets prison sentence in campaign finance fraud case
Complaints obtained by the Indiana Capital Chronicle accuse Gabe Whitley's 'Honest Gabe for Congress' committee of false campaign contributions and fraudulent finance reporting. (Photo illustration by Casey Smith/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Former Indiana Congressional candidate Gabriel 'Gabe' Whitley was sentenced to three months in federal prison Tuesday after he admittedly falsified campaign finance records and lying about raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions ahead of the May 2024 primary.
The sentence followed a plea deal agreement offered by the U.S. attorney's office earlier this year.
Judge James Sweeney, who serves on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, said at the Tuesday hearing in Indianapolis that the 'fairly short' imposed sentence took into account Whitley's lack of criminal history, in addition to his 'troubled, traumatic childhood' and multiple, ongoing mental health challenges.
But Whitley's campaign crime 'is a serious offense' and involved 'multiple layers of fabrication,' Sweeney said.
'The power of trust that we, the American people, put in the political process and in our representatives — the public needs to trust the system, at least,' the judge said. 'We need to have confidence in the process and the integrity of the system, even if the political candidate doesn't have that same integrity.'
Whitley claimed in the courtroom that he did not know his campaign finance fillings were fraudulent. But the judge said his sentence — less than the six month-maximum which could have been imposed — took into account that Whitley 'clearly knew there was something not proper.'
Sweeney emphasized, too, that serving some prison time 'will help deter others' who are running for political office from committing similar campaign crimes.
Questions about Whitley's campaign finances were first reported by the Indiana Capital Chronicle early last year.
Whitley admitted that he lied to the FEC in three separate reports about hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from supporters and loans from himself.
Specifically, Whitley admitted that in October 2023, he falsely claimed that 67 people — whose biographical details he made up — had contributed approximately $222,690 to his Honest Gabe for Congress, according to federal protestors.
In January 2024, Whitley again falsely reported contributions from individuals 'whose biographical details he fabricated,' prosecutors said. He did the same in April 2024, falsifying a $100,000 loan to his campaign.
In addition to prison time, Whitley's sentence included a $100 fine, a $100 fee for special assessments and a year of supervised probation following his release.
Sweeney further recommended that Whitley complete substance abuse treatment — citing a positive drug test for marijuana in late January — plus a mental health evaluation and treatment, as well as vocational training.
In remarks provided during the two-hour hearing, Whitley asked the court for 'leniency' and indicated that he has 'no intentions of returning to politics.'
'I am embarrassed to be here today,' he said in a prepared statement. 'I take full responsibility for my crimes, and I deeply regret the harm caused by my actions.'
'This prosecution has been embarrassing … and I know this will always follow me,' Whitley continued, referring to news articles and social media posts about his case 'that future employers can look up' online.
He deprived the electorate of what they value most — and why these rules exist — and that's transparency.
– Federal prosecutor Nicole Lockhart
Still, the former candidate pointed a finger at a former employer 'that taught me to lie about my filings … but later I learned it was not correct.' Whitley did not name the company when asked by the judge. Whitley's court-appointed attorney, Gwendolyn Beitz, said the employer's name was previously provided to the prosecution team.
Whitley repeatedly referenced his autism and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnoses, which he said contribute to his 'hot head' and 'impulsive tendencies.'
'I don't intend to come across the way people look at me,' he added.
But prosecutor Nicole Lockhart maintained that 'this was not an impulsive crime.' She said Whitley's fraudulent filings 'happened multiple times, over multiple months, in multiple reports.'
'He deprived the electorate of what they value most — and why these rules exist — and that's transparency,' Lockhart said.
Indiana congressional candidate faces campaign finance scrutiny
She additionally pointed to two recent lawsuits lodged by Whitley, one against the FBI Indianapolis Field Office and the federal agent who investigated the case; and the other against the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana and the U.S. Department of Justice.
The lawsuits, which have since been dismissed, were filed by Whitley after his February plea hearing and alleged that his admissions of guilt had been coerced, and that he was being 'maliciously prosecute(s) … without probable cause, motivated by a conflict of interest and political bias.'
Prosecutors said those 'incendiary' complaints — along with other lawsuits in Marion County Superior Court — showed that Whitley 'has continued to demonstrate an utter lack of respect for the judiciary.'
In one motion filed in Marion County, for example, Whitley stated that the African American judge presiding over his case, got his 'law license from a Cracker Jack box because they don't give monkeys real law license [sic].'
U.S. attorneys held that 'such conduct from an individual who had pleaded guilty to a criminal offense only several weeks before reflects a lack of seriousness in engaging with the judicial process and suggests that a probationary sentence would be an insufficient deterrent.'
Defending her client, Beitz contended that Whitley's speech — while detestable — is protected under the First Amendment.
But a turning point in the hearing appeared to come when Sweeney questioned Whitley directly about campaign finance concerns predating his federal case. The judge specifically cited reporting by The Evansville Courier & Press in 2021 about Whitley's campaign documents filed during his short-lived Evansville mayoral campaign.
The paper reported Whitley's fundraising reports filed with the state in 2021 and 2022 raised questions that he may have violated Indiana election law by documenting he raised thousands of dollars in campaign cash from people who denied giving him donations.
Whitley said he hired an unnamed political consulting firm to solicit contributions via email on his behalf. He reported no such expenditures on his 2021 and 2022 campaign finance filings, though.
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Sweeney pressed Whitley about earlier suspicions of fraud and asked whether he had filed the false federal reports before or after the state-level allegations surfaced.
Whitley told the judge he was never aware of problems with his campaign filings and emphasized that Indiana's Election Division dismissed related complaints.
Even so, Sweeney said that was no excuse for later, fraudulent filings during Whitley's congressional race, and argued that the former candidate 'should have been on notice' as far back as 2021.
Complaints alleging Whitley's excessive federal campaign contributions and fraudulent financial reporting were sent to the Federal Election Commission (FEc) and the Indiana Election Division in February 2024 by Gabrielle Kendall, wife of WIBC radio host Rob Kendall. At the time, Whitley told the Indiana Capital Chronicle the accusations were 'absurd.'
When asked by the Capital Chronicle if the contested donors are real, Whitley said 'there's no more comment I'm going to say on that,' Whitley said. 'We've been in compliance with the FEC. We talked with them. We have a good relationship with them.'
Later, in August 2024, Whitley was arrested in a separate case for alleged online threats and harassment he made against Indianapolis-based political commentator Abdul-Hakim Shabazz. That case is still pending in Marion County Superior Court, with a jury trial scheduled for mid-July.
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