During the first three days of the trial in Fort Bend County Judge KP George’s “money laundering” case, the prosecution elaborated how George misused $46,000 in campaign funds to make a down payment on a house and pay his property taxes and the defense argued that George reimbursed himself the money he loaned to his campaign.
After Jury selection, on the first day of trial on March 11, Charann Thompson prosecutor from the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office told the jury that the candidates are allowed to give themselves money to repay campaign loans, but George never disclosed on forms that he was doing so with the two impugned wire transfers.
Jared Woodfill, George’s attorney, in his opening statement, argued that the transferred funds were lawful repayments of personal loans George repeatedly made to his own campaign, and that every donation was legal. Campaign finance reporting is complex and administrative mistakes should be handled by the governing state board at the Texas Ethics Commissions, not criminal prosecution, Woodfill said…