Wilmington man gets $100k fine for political donations

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — The North Carolina Board of Elections has fined a Wilmington businessman $100,000 for his role in funneling illegal donations to the campaigns of Gov. Beverly Perdue and others.

The board approved an agreement with Rusty Carter on Wednesday. Carter’s attorney paid the administrative penalty immediately.

Court documents show Carter provided extra money to his employees with the understanding that some of it would be contributed to political campaigns. Carter accepted responsibility for the improper donations at a court hearing this spring where he received two years of unsupervised probation and was fined $5,000.

Lawyers say there was no evidence Perdue or the other recipients knew that the donations were illegal.

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