Lawyer sentenced to prison over former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke PAC

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North Carolina Attorney Jack Daly was sentenced to 4 months imprisonment for conspiring to commit mail fraud and lie to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Daly’s term of imprisonment will be followed by two years of supervised release, and he will also pay a $20,000 fine, along with two separate payments of $69,978.37 for restitution and forfeiture, according to federal officials.

According to court documents obtained by the Wisconsin Law Journal, Daly and his co-conspirator, Attorney Nathanael Pendley, operated a political action committee (Draft PAC) that solicited donations by promising donors their money would be used to convince David Clarke Jr., the former sheriff of Milwaukee County, to campaign for a seat in the United States Senate.

The Draft PAC, which raised more than $1.6 million, was spent on additional fundraising to benefit Daly and Pendley, not genuine efforts to convince Clarke to run for office, as the PAC was intended, documents noted.

Clarke served as sheriff of Milwaukee County from March 2002 to August 2017.

Also according to court documents, in their solicitations to small-dollar donors, Daly and Pendley falsely suggested that Clarke was still likely to run for the Senate, even after Clarke’s explicit public statement to the contrary.

In communications with both Clarke and the FEC, Daly and Pendley also falsely represented that Daly was no longer responsible for the Draft PAC’s operation.

When Clarke was asked about the PAC, he said, “It’s a scam PAC really. … No one needs to donate to me for U.S. Senate because I am not running.”

According to court records, Daly targeted vulnerable victims, including a woman with Alzheimer’s, and elderly veterans. One 96-year-old victim, who “lived alone on a very limited income,” noted that Daly and Pendley were “con artists” who “should be punished” because “they scammed many working people,” instead of “using their education to help” others.

Gregory J. Haanstad, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced on June 9, 2023, and June 12, 2023, respectively, Daly and Pendley pled guilty to conspiring to commit mail fraud and lie to the FEC.

In May 2023, North Carolina Attorney Jason H. Cowley of the McGuireWoods LLP’s Charlotte office filed a notice to appear as representation for Daly. North Carolina Attorney Roy G. Dixon III, also of the McGuireWoods LLP Charlotte office, also filed a notice to appear  on behalf of Daly.