A Washington businessman pleaded guilty Monday to funding shadow campaign activity for several candidates, including Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign and the 2010 election of Washington's current mayor, according to the Associated Press.
Jeffrey Thompson, 58, pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges tied to allegations that he secretly funneled more than $3.3 million in illegal donations to political candidates and their campaigns, the AP reported.
Thompson's guilty pleas were part of a long-running probe into charges that Thompson helped engineer a shadow campaign to elect Democrat Vincent Gray as the city's mayor, according to the AP.
Thompson used his companies to channel more than $668,000 to secretly aid Gray, prosecutors say, the AP reported.
Thompson also spent about $608,000 to fund illicit get-out-the-vote efforts in several states and Puerto Rico to aid a presidential campaign, according to the AP.
The documents do not name the candidate, but Clinton's campaign lawyer Lyn Utrecht has previously acknowledged that the probe into Thompson's activities included the Clinton's 2008 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, the AP reported.
In a statement Monday, prosecutors said "there is no indication that the presidential candidate was personally aware" of Thompson's secret activities, according to the AP.
Utrecht did not respond to interview requests late Monday, the AP reported. Clinton currently is weighing another presidential bid in 2016.
In all, Thompson was involved in illegal campaign activity to aid more than two dozen candidates, prosecutors said, according to the AP.
Gray has not been charged with a crime, the AP reported. Federal prosecutors said Monday that he was aware of Thompson's shadow campaign. He has denied wrongdoing.
The charges come just weeks before the April 1 Democratic mayoral primary, in which Gray faces challenges from seven other candidates, according to the AP.
