APNewsBreak: Campaign manager for ex-Conn. Rep. Shays to plead guilty to embezzling money

APNewsBreak: Ex-Conn. rep’s aide to plead guilty

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The campaign manager for former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays plans to plead guilty to charges of embezzling campaign funds.

Court records dated Friday show Michael Sohn of Fairfield has applied for permission to enter such a plea.

His attorney, H. James Pickerstein, told The Associated Press on Friday that Sohn will plead guilty to campaign finance and tax violation charges next Thursday. Pickerstein said Sohn will admit to embezzling campaign money, but he declined further comment.

Prosecutors charged Sohn in December with embezzling about $250,000 in campaign funds. A telephone message was left Friday with a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Sohn worked for nearly six years as campaign manager for Shays, a moderate Republican who served 10 terms in Congress. Shays narrowly lost to Democrat Jim Himes in 2008 in the race for the 4th District in southwestern Connecticut that he had represented for 21 years.

“This is long overdue,” Shays said Friday. “Michael embezzled money, failed to pay his taxes and hurt a lot of people, including himself.”

Shays said Sohn appeared to be “the classic case of someone wanting to live on twice their income.”

Sohn was arrested on a 12-count indictment charging him with stealing campaign funds from 2005 to 2008 by writing himself checks and using the campaign’s debit card for unauthorized purchases.

He pleaded not guilty at the time in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport. A judge released him on $100,000 bail and agreed that he should undergo mental health treatment.

Shays filed documents with the Federal Election Commission detailing unauthorized ATM withdrawals for cell phone service and for luxury purchases from places such as a limousine service, a steakhouse, an online ticketing agency and a New York City hotel and restaurant.

The last New England Republican in the House of Representatives, Shays had fended off a series of close elections in his wealthy, conservative district but couldn’t overcome a Democrat stronghold in 2008 fueled by the unpopularity of Republican President George W. Bush.

Prosecutors say Sohn caused Shays’ campaign committee to file four false campaign reports in 2008 because the reports didn’t accurately report the campaign’s expenditures and cash available. They also charge that Sohn failed to file federal income tax returns from 2005 to 2007 and didn’t report $88,000 in income on his 2008 tax return.

In all, the 34-year-old Sohn faced four counts of illegally converting campaign contributions to his personal use, four counts of making false statements, three counts of filing a federal income tax return and one count of tax evasion.

Just weeks after Shays was defeated, a post-election review of his campaign finances uncovered a series of irregularities.