A political consultant and former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges for his role in a pair of campaign finance schemes.
Gregory Naylor, 66, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, concealing a felony and falsifying documents.
Court documents said Naylor issued a phony invoice of more than $193,000 to a candidate in the 2007 Philadelphia mayor's race. The documents refer to the candidate only as “Elected Official A,” but Naylor was a top adviser to Fattah's 2007 mayoral bid.
“Naylor helped conceal the theft of federal grant funds and private charitable funds that were used to repay an illegal campaign debt incurred by Elected Official A during a 2007 campaign for elected office,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. It added that “Elected Official A and others orchestrated the theft of federal grant funds to repay the outstanding balance of the campaign debt.”
Fattah, a Philadelphia Democrat, has been the subject of a long-running federal investigation. Fattah is married to NBC10 News anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah.
A spokeswoman for the 10-term congressman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the second scheme, federal officials said Naylor plotted with the same elected official to use campaign funds to pay down the college debt of the official's son. Fattah's son, Chaka Fattah Jr., was indicted in early August on charges of stealing federal funds meant for city schools, fraudulently obtaining business loans and using the ill-begotten money on lavish personal expenses, including large gambling debts.
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Both the father and son have questioned the integrity of that case. Fattah Jr. has pleaded not guilty.
Naylor will be sentenced on Dec. 2.
