In January 2014, the FBI arrested Ravneet Singh and arraigned him in San Diego on charges of conspiracy and falsification of campaign records during the 2012 San Diego mayoral campaign. The government’s theory was that Singh aided Jose Azano Mastura, a Mexican national, with making campaign contributions to the mayor’s race. Congress’s strict campaign regulations in the Sarbanes Oxley Act madesuch contributions illegal. Singh is the Chicago-born founder and ownerof Washington, D.C.-based ElectionMall Technologies, which had helped approximately seven thousand federal, state and local campaigns with technology over the prior fifteen years. Singh also aided international political campaigns in Colombia, Ireland, Malaysia, and had worked with Azano previouslyon a campaign in Mexico. Singh knew that Azano owned a house in San Diego, that his children were U.S citizens and went to school in San Diego, and that his wife was a U.S. citizen. Singh also knew that Azano wanted to stay out of the public limelight and had requested that Singh keep Azano’s involvement confidential. Singh accordingly did not inform the campaigns that Azano was paying Singh to provide social media help. The FBI alleged that Singh knew that, even though Azano’s wife could contribute to local elections, Azano could not.
At trial in San Diego, Singh argued principally that he did not know that Azano was a foreign national and requested a jury instruction directing the jury that, before he could be convicted of any crime flowing from the campaign contributions of Azano, the jury had to be convinced that Singh knew Azano was a foreign national. The prosecution refused, and the trial judge ruled with the prosecution, concluding that as long as Singh will fully aided Azano in an undefined “criminal” enterprise, culpability could be found. Singh also argued that barring campaign contributions from individuals like Azano, who possessed valid visas, violated the First Amendment, and heargued as well that for Congress to bar campaign contributions to local elections violated principles of federalism. The trial court rejected Singh’s arguments. Singh was convicted in 2017 after a jury trial on fourcounts, all stemming from Singh’s admitted efforts in aiding Azano help the two mayoral campaigns through social media out reach. The prosecution sought a prison sentence of roughly six years, which the trial judge reduced to fifteen months.
Singh appealed, and the attorney for the government during oral argument before the Ninth Circuit conceded under questioning that the government should not have objected to the proposed jury instruction that, for Singh to be convicted, he had to have known that Azano was a foreign national. Despite the concession, the Ninth Circuit held in 2019 that the jury must have concluded that Singh acted wrongfully in helping Azano. The Court rejected both the First Amendment and federalism arguments. Nonetheless, the Court vacated one count because Singh could not be held legally responsible for “causing” one of the mayoral campaigns to file a false campaign report. Singh is to be resentenced on November 14, 2020, after spending more than the last six years under tight pre-trial probation supervision.
On November 14, 2020 Singh was sentenced to serve 12 months at Federal Prison Camp Pensacola FL. beginning January 11, 2021. However, Singh received a call the following day informing him the judge had made a clinical error concerning the case and Singh was to return to San Diego immediately to be tried for a seconed time and the previous trial was to be discarded. On November 20, 2020 Singh returned to San Diego and was resentenced with the same outcome of 12 months at Federal Prison Camp Pensacola FL. on January 11, 2021.
Though Singh’s departure is coming soon he has remains positiveas he pours himself into informing people of his situation through several podcasts; making sure people understand their voices are valued and that speaking up for what they believe is important.
Dr. Ravi Singh on The Michael Berry Show
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