March 9 (UPI) -- A former Republican House candidate has pleaded guilty to accepting a conduit contribution during her failed 2020 campaign.
Lynda Bennett, 65, of Maggie Valley, N.C., pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of accepting contributions in the name of another, and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23, when she faces a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.
Bennett, who was endorsed by then-President Donald Trump, ran for North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, and lost the Republican nomination for the 2020 general election that June to then-Rep. Madison Cawthorn.
Federal prosecutors said that in December 2019, she had borrowed $25,000 from a family member, stating it was needed for personal reasons as she had spent a large amount of her own money on her campaign.
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A day after receiving the funds in her personal account, she transferred $80,000 to Lynda Bennett for Congress, her authorized federal campaign committee bank account. Prosecutors said this violated the Federal Election Campaign Act as she was required to report a loan from a third-party individual as a campaign contribution.
"Bennett knowingly and willfully violated the FECA by reporting through LBC that the full $80,000 was a loan to her campaign using her own personal funds, rather than disclosing that $25,000 of that amount was a loan from another individual," the Justice Department said in a statement Wednesday.
Kearns Davis, Bennett's attorney, said following the hearing Wednesday that his client was "glad to move on to the next step of the process," The News & Observer reported.
"Lynda is grateful for the support of her family and friends," Davis said.
Bennett was on several Republicans to run for the seat left vacant by former Rep. Mark Meadows, who went on to serve as Trump's White House chief of staff.
Cawthorn, who won the seat in 2020, lost re-election in May to state. Sen. Chuck Edwards.
