Campaign treasurer who worked for losing BP candidate charged with fraud involving matching funds

October 2, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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BROOKLYN — A CAMPAIGN TREASURER FOR A CANDIDATE WHO LOST THE 2021 PRIMARY ELECTION for Brooklyn Borough President has been charged with a scheme to defraud New York City’s Campaign Finance Board, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced on Wednesday, Oct. 2. The defendant, former campaign treasurer Erlene King, now 71, is accused of using straw donors and submitting forged documents in an attempt to steal $400,000 in matching city funds.

Although neither the U.S. Attorney nor the Department of Justice named the candidate in question, a spokesperson for Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso stated that King had never worked for his campaign. Later on Wednesday, PoliticoNY reporter Jeff Coltin on Wednesday afternoon revealed on X that Erlene King had worked for Anthony Jones, “who got 8th place — 3% of the vote — in the 2021 Brooklyn BP [primary] race.” Anthony Jones also ran for the Assembly District 55 seat in 2022 but lost to Latrice Walker, who currently holds that office.

King allegedly obtained fraudulent donations for the purpose of inducing the CFB to provide matching funds to the campaign. In many cases, the named individuals either had not personally funded the contributions or were victims of identity theft and had not personally contributed to the candidate.

According to a 2009 CFB profile, Erlene King was a Democratic candidate in the primary for City Council (District 45) and was involved in civic and social service work in East Flatbush.

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