Former U.S. Citizen Sentenced to Prison for Unlawful Election Contributions

MADISON, WIS. - Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Roger Hoffman, 70, a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, was sentenced this week by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 20 months in federal prison for making unlawful political contributions as a foreign national. He was also ordered to pay a $150,000 fine. Hoffman pleaded guilty to this charge on September 26, 2025.

On January 15, 2009, Hoffman, formerly a Wisconsin resident, became a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis. On or about July 9, 2009, Hoffman executed a formal Oath of Renunciation of Nationality of the United States before a United States consular officer. After renouncing his citizenship, Hoffman continued to make political contributions using a straw donor to disguise the foreign nature of his contributions.

Hoffman gave money to Person A and directed Person A to contribute to specific candidates for federal and state office in specific amounts, using Person A's own name. To execute this scheme, Hoffman directed Person A to open checking accounts with multiple banks, with the checks listing Person A's Madison, Wisconsin, address and provided the funds for these accounts. Hoffman however, controlled the checkbooks, online login credentials, and debit cards for these accounts.

For more than a decade, Hoffman used the funds in the accounts to make donations to candidates for federal and state office in the United States by writing checks drawn on the accounts and by using the debit cards linked to the accounts to make contributions and donations online. Hoffman falsely represented to the recipients of the contributions that Person A was the contributor or donor, when in fact Hoffman was the true source of the funds. From 2011 to 2020, Hoffman directed Person A or made in Person A's name more than 1,200 federal and state contributions totaling over $300,000.

After federal agents interviewed Hoffman, he tried to obstruct the investigation by telling Person A to falsely tell agents that the contributions were made of Person A's own volition.

At sentencing, Judge Peterson stated that Hoffman demonstrated a resolute pattern of dishonesty. Judge Peterson further stated that Hoffman failed to clearly accept responsibility for his conduct despite overwhelming evidence of a scheme to purposely violate election law that was significant in scope.

The charge against Hoffman was the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Reinhard, Western District of Wisconsin, and Dahoud Askar and Celia Choy, Trial Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice Public Integrity Section, Criminal Division, prosecuted this case.