By Joe Anuta
Federal prosecutors sought to convince a jury in closing arguments Tuesday that two former campaign aides to city Comptroller John Liu were guilty of a scheme to steal matching funds from the city Campaign Finance Board.
The defense was schedule to argue otherwise Wednesday, May 1.
Xing Wu “Oliver” Pan and Jia “Jenny” Hou sat in Manhattan federal court Tuesday as Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Anderson delivered the government’s summations.
“Mr. Pan and Ms. Hou chose to cheat. They chose to lie,” he told the jury. “Hold them accountable for the choice they made. Find them guilty.”
Anderson and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Jacobs attempted to prove throughout the two-week trial that Hou and Pan were co-conspirators who each played a unique role in the Liu mayoral campaign, which Anderson alleged made using straw donors — contributors designed to conceal the true source of campaign money — standard practice.
Anderson alleged it was Pan’s job to recruit and pay straw donors, while Hou took care of the money and allegedly attempted to conceal any illegal efforts from the finance board, but both were just taking pages from the “campaign’s playbook,” he said.
In addition to attempted wire fraud and conspiracy counts that the pair is facing, Hou is also charged with concealing emails from FBI agents and willfully withholding the name of intermediaries, or campaign bundlers, who collect multiple donations.
Liu has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
