WASHINGTON (AP) - A campaign aide to District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray has admitted in federal court that Gray was elected in 2010 with the aid of more than $650,000 in illicit campaign funds from a district businessman.
The admission by Eugenia Clarke Harris during a plea hearing Tuesday confirms longstanding rumors about a "shadow campaign" supporting Gray and funded by Jeffrey Thompson, who owns an accounting firm and a managed-care provider.
Thompson was not named in court and has not been charged with a crime, but Harris has longstanding business and personal relationships with him, and their offices and homes were searched by federal investigators on the same day. Harris identified her co-conspirator as the owner of an accounting firm who also has government contracts.