California lobbyist pleads guilty to fraud in Capitol corruption case

Sharon Bernstein, The Sacramento Bee on Dec 4, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A powerful California lobbyist pleaded guilty Thursday to bank fraud and defrauding the federal government in connection with a public corruption case that has roiled the state capitol and netted former chiefs of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.

Greg Campbell admitted in federal court in Sacramento that he participated in a scheme to siphon money from a dormant campaign account belonging to Becerra and launder it through a no-show job that benefited the former attorney general’s longtime adviser Sean McCluskie.

Campbell also admitted to ordering an employee to draw up three fake work contracts to help co-conspirator Dana Williamson, Newsom’s former chief of staff, respond to a subpoena about COVID-era loans she had obtained for her company.

Wearing a dark blue-green suit and a patterned red-and-blue tie, Campbell stood with his hands in his pockets before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Troy Nunley as the charges against him were read aloud.

“Guilty,” he responded in a quiet voice to the two counts.

The case, which had been under investigation for about three years, burst into public consciousness Nov. 12, when Williamson was arrested by the FBI at her home in Carmichael.

In their indictment of Williamson and other court documents, prosecutors outlined the scheme to funnel money to McCluskie through a fake job in the name of his wife, who was not charged. Campbell was one of three co-conspirators who helped launder the money before it went to a payroll provider for disbursement to McCluskie’s account, Campbell’s plea agreement said.

Williamson would bill Becerra’s account $7,500 per month under the pretext of managing the campaign funds and providing consulting work, then add another $2,500 to the amount before sending a total of $10,000 monthly to an account controlled by McCluskie, prosecutors alleged.

When Williamson went to work for Newsom as chief of staff in late 2022, Campbell’s company served as a conduit for the payments instead of hers, the plea agreement said. The group told Becerra that McCluskie’s wife would now be working for a company controlled by Campbell, the powerful lobbying consortium The Collaborative.

In a meeting with the other co-conspirators that was surveilled by the FBI, Campbell referred to the scheme as “money-laundering” and said that it was “always set up to be somewhat icky,” his plea agreement said.

In a separate scheme, Campbell also admitted on Thursday that he had helped Williamson create fake contracts to help her respond to a subpoena about a PPP loan that her company had taken during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I just backdated the contracts for her,” he said in a meeting with a co-conspirator who has been identified as lobbyist Alexis Podesta, the plea agreement says.

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