“Margaret Hunter promptly accepted responsibility for her role in this campaign finance fraud,” said Assistant US Attorney David Leshner in a statement.
“Her sentence reflects her lesser culpability relative to her husband, the important part she played in securing her husband’s guilty plea, and her role in reinforcing the bedrock principle underlying our democracy that the politicians who write our laws do not stand above them,” Leshner added.
The couple was indicted in 2018 for lavishly spending on “items as inconsequential as fast food, movie tickets and sneakers; as trivial as video games, Lego sets and Playdoh; as mundane as groceries, dog food, and utilities; and as self-indulgent as luxury hotels, overseas vacations, and plane tickets for themselves, their family members, and their pet rabbits Eggburt and Cadbury,” according to prosecutors.
Duncan Hunter, the former San Diego area congressman, was sentenced to 11 months in prison and three years of parole for corruption charges in March 2020.
Margaret Hunter’s home detention portion of the sentence restricts all movement outside the home except for employment, education, religious services, mental health and substance abuse counseling, and court proceedings, according to the district judge’s sentence. He also banned her from seeking employment with fiduciary responsibility.
“Today’s sentencing marks the end of a four-year FBI investigation which resulted in felony convictions of former Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife, Margaret Hunter, for lying and stealing from Hunters’ constituents and undermining the public’s trust,” said Omer Meisel, acting special agent at the FBI San Diego Field Office.
Source : CNN
