Former State Senator Convicted of Scheming to Obtain Public Election Funds

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that a federal jury in New Haven has found former Connecticut State Senator DENNIS A. BRADLEY, JR., 43, of Bridgeport, guilty of defrauding Connecticut's program for publicly funding political campaigns during his 2018 run for State Senate.

According to the evidence presented during the trial, in his 2018 campaign for State Senate representing the 23rd District, Bradley and others conspired to defraud the Connecticut State Election Enforcement Commission ("SEEC"), the Citizens' Election Fund, and the State of Connecticut by making material misrepresentations concerning Bradley's compliance with state election law and the requirements and restrictions of the Citizens' Election Program ("CEP"), a voluntary public election-financing program under which candidates can apply to SEEC for grants to fund their primary and general election campaigns. Bradley and his co-conspirators violated CEP rules, then engaged in a scheme to trick SEEC into awarding his campaign undeserved CEP grants by making misrepresentations and omissions to disguise the nature of a March 15, 2018, campaign launch event at Dolphin's Cove restaurant in Bridgeport.

Although CEP rules imposed a $2,000 limit on Bradley's expenditure of personal funds, Bradley used more than $7,000 in personal funds to pay for the Dolphin's Cove campaign event, including an open bar, food, printed invitations, a band, a DJ, and a videographer. In an attempt to hide the Dolphin's Cove campaign event from SEEC, Bradley and his co-conspirators claimed it was a "Thank You Party" for Bradley's law firm. At least eight donors gave to Bradley's campaign at the Dolphin's Cove event, but Bradley and his co-conspirators altered and falsified the contribution cards so that none were dated March 15, 2018.

CEP rules required complete and truthful disclosures of Bradley's campaign contributions and expenditures. In April, May, and June 2018, Bradley's campaign filed disclosure statements with SEEC that fraudulently omitted that Bradley had held the Dolphin's Cove campaign event, omitted that Bradley had incurred or paid more than $7,000 in expenses for that event, omitted that Bradley's campaign had accepted contributions at the event, and misrepresented the dates of those contributions.

On May 24, 2018, Bradley applied for a CEP grant to fund his Democratic primary campaign. On July 10, 2018, relying on the false and misleading information contained in Bradley's filings, SEEC issued the campaign $84,140 in public funds. On August 14, 2018, Bradley won the Democratic primary with approximately 55 percent of the vote.

After issuing a CEP primary grant to Bradley, SEEC began investigating a citizen complaint regarding Bradley's campaign, including the Dolphin's Cove campaign event. On August 21, 2018, Bradley emailed a letter to SEEC in which he denied all the allegations in the citizen complaint as "frivolous and manipulative" and falsely stated, "This was in no shape or form a political event. … In fact, we did not collect any donations at this event and have no donations dated 03/15/2018."

On October 12, 2018, after Bradley attempted to obtain an additional $95,710 CEP grant to fund his general election campaign, his campaign treasurer, Jessica Martinez, repeated similar false statements under oath to SEEC. Bradley then once again repeated those lies at a SEEC meeting considering whether to award his campaign the general election grant. SEEC eventually denied Bradley that grant. On November 6, 2018, Bradley won the general election.

The jury found Bradley guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud. Each offense carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

Bradley is released on a $300,000 bond pending sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.

Martinez pleaded guilty to a related charge and has been sentenced. A cooperating campaign volunteer also pleaded guilty to a charge stemming from her role in the offense and awaits sentencing.

This case has been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan N. Francis and David E. Novick.