By Ken Ward, Jr.

September 21, 2017 - Morgantown, West Virginia coal operator James L. Laurita Jr. allegedly schemed for more than three years to funnel illegal campaign contributions to four candidates for federal political office, according to an indictment made public this week.

A federal grand jury meeting in Morgantown indicted Laurita on eight felony counts in the scheme, which prosecutors say involved illegally directing money from Laurita’s company, Mepco LLC, through its employees to the federal candidates. The indictment also charges Laurita with contributions that violated federal election limits, and with causing false statements about the contributions to be submitted to the Federal Elections Commission.

The crimes are alleged to have occurred from March 2010 to July 2013, according to the indictment and a statement from the Justice Department.

The indictment, made public Tuesday, does not identify the four federal candidates by name, and no candidates were charged in the indictment.

Acting U.S. Attorney Betsy Steinfeld Jividen noted in a statement that an indictment “is merely an accusation” and that a defendant “is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.”

John Carr, a Charleston lawyer representing Laurita, declined to comment on the indictment.

The case was assigned for trial to U.S. District Judge Irene Keeley, and an initial court appearance for Laurita, 57, was scheduled for 1 p.m. on Oct. 2 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi.

Federal law limits the amount of direct contributions that individuals can make to political candidates. To prevent donors from evading those limits, the law also prohibits giving or reimbursing funds to a “conduit contributor,” or “straw contributor,” who would pass on funds from another individual to a federal candidate.

The indictment alleges that during the 2010, 2012 and 2014 election cycles, Laurita met with Mepco employees and told them he would direct them and their spouses to make contributions of certain amounts to campaign committees for particular candidates, and that the company’s money would be used to fund the campaign contributions.

“It was part of the scheme and plan to knowingly conceal from the FEC, the committees, the federal candidates, and the public the true source and amount of the campaign contributions,” the indictment states.

“It was part of the scheme and plan to use conduits to knowingly deceive the federal candidates and the committees into believing that the defendant lawfully raised significant contributions of money for the committees from the conduits when, in truth and fact, he had not,” the indictment states. “It was part of the scheme and plan to cause the various committees to file reports with the FEC falsely stating that the conduits had made the contributions, when in truth and fact, and as the defendant well knew, each contribution was made by himself with funds from Mepco LLC.”

While the indictment does not identify the federal candidates by name, it does say that one was a candidate for election and re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, another a candidate for election and re-election to the U.S. Senate, a third a candidate for election and re-election to the House or the Senate, and the fourth a candidate for election to the House.

During the election cycles in question, Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., won election and then re-election to the House, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., won election and then re-election to the Senate, and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., won re-election to the House and then election to the Senate. The indictment does not specify that the candidates were from West Virginia, but does say that the crimes alleged occurred in the state’s northern federal court district “and elsewhere.”

Employees of Mepco contributed nearly $148,000 to federal candidates in the 2010 election cycle and nearly $287,000 in the 2012 cycle, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. Mepco employee contributions dropped off to $73,000 in the 2014 cycle and $325 in the 2016 cycle, according to the center’s online data.

McKinley, Manchin and Capito all received thousands of dollars in contributions from Mepco employees, with McKinley receiving the most, nearly $80,000 during the election cycles of 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Spokesmen for McKinley and Manchin did not respond to requests for comment, while a spokeswoman for Capito said she would not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Mepco employees also contributed to the campaigns of numerous other West Virginia candidates, including Republican Fred Snuffer, who ran against then-Rep. Nick Rahall in 2012, and Michael Oliverio, who defeated then-Rep. Alan Mollohan in the 2010 Democratic primary for the state’s 1st District House seat, before losing to McKinley that year in the general election.

A biography posted when Laurita was scheduled to give a speech at West Virginia University’s mining engineering school notes that Laurita was born in Morgantown and “began working in the family mining business at an early age” while working to obtain his mining engineering degree from WVU in 1982.

The indictment says that Laurita was formerly the president, chief executive officer, and minority owner of Mepco LLC, and that Mepco LLC was a subsidiary of a partnership consisting of Laurita and Longview Intermediate Holdings. Laurita is also a former chairman of the West Virginia Coal Association, and was previously on the board of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia, a group that opposes same-sex marriage and other LGBT-inclusive measures.

Mepco is a relatively small operator, with a mine that employed about 400 people and produced nearly 2 million tons of coal last year, according to U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration records. The mine chiefly provides coal for what had been Laurita’s most visible project, the Longview Power Plant outside Morgantown, a facility that was recently toured by Trump administration Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who was joined by Manchin, Capito and McKinley. 

James L. Laurita, Jr.