offenses occurring after January 25, 2003, are governed by FECA guideline, U.S.S.G. § 2C1.8, pursuant to the crossreference in U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(c)(3) for false statements. Additionally, both false internal campaign records and false FEC filings may be charged as an obstruction under 18 U.S.C. § 1519, which is governed by U.S.S.G. §2J1.2, which, with a base offense level of 14, likely provides the highest guideline range available in campaign finance cases. 3. Embezzlement of Campaign Funds On occasion, treasurers and other agents of candidates or political committees, and at times even candidates, convert campaign contributions to their personal use. If the conversion involves funds from a candidate’s committee, it is prohibited by FECA. 52 U.S.C. § 30114. However, if the embezzlement is from a political committee that is not a candidate’s committee, FECA prohibition in Section 30114 does not apply. In any event, campaign embezzlements may be prosecuted under the mail or wire fraud statutes, as a scheme to obtain money or property by deceit (18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343). Section 30114 crimes aggregating $25,000 or more are felonies and for sentencing purposes fall under FECA guideline § 2C1.8. This is the preferred approach if the victim is a candidate’s committee and the amount embezzled is at least $25,000. For embezzlements from political committees that are not candidate committees, and for embezzlements from candidate committees involving amounts under $25,000, the mail and wire fraud statutes continue to be useful alternatives. Violations of Sections 1341 and 1343 are governed by the fraud guideline, U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1, which carries a base offense level of 6 with possible enhancements under the fraud loss table, § 2B1.1(b)(1). 195

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