A Trump-endorsed candidate who ran unsuccessfully for a North Carolina congressional seat was sentenced Tuesday to a year of probation for accepting an illegal contribution to her 2020 campaign.
Lynda Bennett, of Maggie Valley, North Carolina, was sentenced to 12 months' probation and ordered to pay a $7,500 fine at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper.
Bennett pleaded guilty in March to one count of accepting contributions in the name of another person in connection with her unsuccessful 2020 campaign for the House seat left open when Mark Meadows joined the Trump White House as chief of staff.
Prosecutors had argued that in December 2019 Bennett received a campaign contribution of $25,000 from a third party, which she falsely reported to have lent herself through personal funds.
A day after Bennett deposited the money she borrowed from a relative into a personal account, she transferred $80,000, including the $25,000 that was lent to her, to the bank account for her federal campaign committee, prosecutors said.
In recommending probation, prosecutors said in a filing last week that the violation was "an aberration in what was otherwise a consistent history of being a law-abiding citizen."
"Bennett inflated her fundraising numbers at the end of a quarterly reporting period but concealed that thousands of those dollars breached a federal threshold for contributing individuals," prosecutors wrote. "At the same time, the source of the money was not nefarious, but rather a loving relative, and her campaign committee later returned the money."
Prosecutors added that convictions for violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act “often involve more serious concealment, with higher dollar amounts, than the concealment and dollar amount here.”
The Federal Election Commission requires that a loan to a campaign, “including a loan to the campaign from a member of the candidate’s family,” be reported as a campaign contribution.
During the GOP primary in 2020, Bennett picked up the endorsement of President Donald Trump to represent North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District. She lost to Madison Cawthorn in a primary runoff.
Cawthorn served one term in Congress before Republican challenger Chuck Edwards defeated him in the May 2022 primary. Edwards went on to win the general election in November.
Kearns Davis, an attorney for Bennett, said in a statement Tuesday that "Lynda is pleased with the result today," adding that she is "thankful to be putting it behind her."
The U.S. attorney prosecuting the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment.