FBI raids office of Republican consulting firm
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The FBI is conducting an investigation at the Annapolis, Maryland, office of a national Republican campaign consulting firm, CBS Baltimore reports.
The firm, Strategic Campaign Group, had done a variety of political work for both local and national Republican campaigns. Its president, Kelley Rogers, was involved in Fred Thompson's unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid. Services offered to campaigns by the firm include fundraising, virtual telephone town halls, direct mail marketing, voter phone calls and campaign consulting.
The investigation is part of an operation being run by the Washington, D.C., field office of the FBI, the agency confirmed to CBS News. It is not clear why the agency was investigating the firm. After agents entered Strategic Campaign Group's offices Thursday, they taped garbage bags over windows to prevent onlookers from seeing inside.
Strategic Campaign Consulting was among several defendants named in a 2014 lawsuit filed by former Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, who accused the defendants of running a nationwide campaign donation scam. Cuccinelli said the defendants raised $2.2 million from donors who believed the money would go to him, but his campaign received only $10,000 of that money.
The lawsuit was settled for $85,000 and the defendants turned a list of donors over to the campaign.
The Baltimore Sun reports that Rogers confirmed the FBI investigation was related to allegations in the lawsuit.
