{"id":688,"date":"2026-05-14T16:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=688"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:30:10","slug":"becerras-consultant-to-plead-guilty-to-skimming-campaign-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=688","title":{"rendered":"Becerra\u2019s consultant to plead guilty to skimming campaign funds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sacramento\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>A veteran California political consultant has agreed to plead guilty in a scheme to steal campaign funds from Xavier Becerra, now a leading candidate for governor, when he served in the Biden administration, according to filings in her criminal case on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Read more Jeffries\u2019 job grows more difficult in race for House and speaker\u2019s gavel<\/a><\/p>\n

Dana Williamson will plead guilty to three counts, including bank fraud and lying to authorities. In exchange, the federal government will dismiss 20 other counts against her related to her tax filings and a federal COVID-era loan she received.<\/p>\n

A court hearing is scheduled Thursday morning. <\/p>\n

Williamson, a former chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom, was arrested in November and pleaded not guilty. The government secured guilty pleas in December from two advisors who worked with alongside her to skim money from Becerra. <\/p>\n

The case against her and a looming plea deal have taken center stage in the California governor\u2019s race as rivals seek to tie the charges to Becerra, who is a Democratic front runner. He hasn\u2019t been charged, and prosecutors paint him as a victim.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say that Williamson, Becerra\u2019s then-chief of staff Sean McCluskie and lobbyist Greg Campbell took part in a scheme to siphon money from Becerra\u2019s dormant campaign account and funnel it to McCluskie. <\/p>\n

McCluskie needed the money, according to prosecutors, so he could afford to fly home frequently to see his family in California while working for Becerra, who was Biden\u2019s health secretary, in Washington, D.C. <\/p>\n

As part of the scheme, Williamson and another consultant charged Becerra\u2019s account up to $10,000 a month to manage one of his dormant state campaign accounts. <\/p>\n

Read more Newsom offers early peek at rosy budget projections<\/a><\/p>\n

Becerra approved the payments, even though he had never paid such a high amount for a similar job. He told The Times that McCluskie told him to pay the fees. <\/p>\n

Becerra\u2019s rivals in the governor\u2019s race are hammering him over his decision, arguing he should have known something wasn\u2019t right. Becerra has said that he didn\u2019t know about the criminal behavior and has called the charges a \u201cgut punch.\u201d <\/p>\n

Known as an hard-nosed and aggressive operator, Williamson\u2019s career in politics also included working for former governors Jerry Brown and Gray Davis and mentoring other women.<\/p>\n

McGregor Scott, Williamson\u2019s attorney, told reporters last year that federal authorities initially approached Williamson about helping them with a probe into Newsom. She refused, he said, and was subsequently charged. <\/p>\n

Details contained in the indictment and other public records suggest that federal authorities were looking into the state\u2019s handling of alleged sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard Inc., a video game company.<\/p>\n

Read more A dire \u2018math problem\u2019 on the Colorado River and wholly inadequate responses<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dana Williamson agreed to plead guilty to three counts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nBecerra\u2019s consultant to plead guilty to skimming campaign funds - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=688\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Becerra\u2019s consultant to plead guilty to skimming campaign funds - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dana Williamson agreed to plead guilty to three counts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=688\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T16:30:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"Becerra\u2019s consultant to plead guilty to skimming campaign funds\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T16:30:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688\"},\"wordCount\":479,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/155091d9bd01b3111fe1b56e407c4362-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688\",\"name\":\"Becerra\u2019s consultant to plead guilty to skimming campaign funds - California Relocation Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/155091d9bd01b3111fe1b56e407c4362-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T16:30:10+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=688#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/155091d9bd01b3111fe1b56e407c4362-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/155091d9bd01b3111fe1b56e407c4362-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Dana Williamson, a former top aide to Gov. 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