JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Republican Gov. Eric Greitens currently faces two felony charges, but a third lesser charge could be coming.
That’s because evidence turned over by the Attorney General’s Office to the Cole County prosecutor could be used to file a charge against the embattled governor for filing a false campaign disclosure report.
The evidence in question suggests that Greitens knowingly filed a false report with the Missouri Ethics Commission, as reported by the Kansas City Star on Friday morning.
Filing a false campaign disclosure report would be a Class A misdemeanor, carrying up to one year in jail.
At issue is the settlement that Greitens signed in April 2017 with the MEC, admitting that his campaign had failed to disclose its obtaining of The Mission Continues donor list.
Greitens campaign paid a $100 fine and agreed to amend its campaign filings, showing the donor list as an in-kind contribution by former campaign manager Danny Laub.
The Kansas City Star’s Jason Hancock reports that, according to a source near the investigation, Attorney General Hawley turned over evidence to Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson, which the attorney general’s office believes will prove that Laub did not give the list to the campaign, that the campaign did not receive it in March 2015, and that Greitens knew his campaign was filing a false report.
As the alleged criminal actions would have taken place in Cole County, Richardson’s office would have jurisdiction, and as of Friday morning, there is no answer as to whether he will file charges.
Read the Kansas City Star report here.
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.
