Mount Clemens, Michigan — Two people were convicted of forgery and other crimes on Monday in Election petitions scandal Which spoiled the nominations of five Republicans who were running for governor of Michigan in 2022.
The petitions were riddled with fake signatures, and as a result, the candidates did not have enough valid signatures to qualify for that year’s Republican primary. Candidates include former Detroit Police Chief James Craig and millionaire businessman Perry Johnson, who is running again this year.
No candidate has been personally accused of intentionally submitting fraudulent petitions.
Attorney General Dana Nessel said the scam “deprived millions of Michiganders of a choice in the 2022 gubernatorial election.”
Sean Wilmoth and Willie Reed were both convicted of forgery, running a criminal enterprise and other crimes after a trial in suburban Detroit. They will be sentenced on March 18. Jimmy Wilmoth was found not guilty.
Defense attorneys tried to shift blame onto dozens of petitioners, telling the jury that Sean Wilmoth and Reed had also been defrauded.
Nine campaigns, including some for judicial candidates in the Detroit area, paid more than $700,000 to companies affiliated with Reid and Sean Wilmoth to obtain signatures, the attorney general’s office said.
Candidates need 15,000 voter signatures to get on the Republican primary ballot. State election clerks believe people sometimes simply sat around a table, signed petitions and passed them on.
After the Theodore Dixon scandal He emerged as a Republican candidate For the ruler, but she He lost the general election To Governor Gretchen Whitmer.