State Sen. Bradley Charged In Campaign Fund Scheme: Feds

BRIDGEPORT, CT — State Sen. Dennis Bradley Jr. and his former campaign treasurer, Jessica Martinez, face federal charges in connection with a campaign fund scheme, according to authorities.

A federal grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment Monday charging Bradley and Martinez with multiple charges related to Bradley’s 2018 campaign, Acting U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Leonard C. Boyle announced.

Bradley, A Democrat who represents Bridgeport and Stratford, and Martinez, former chairperson of the Bridgeport Board of Education, pleaded not guilty in federal court in New Haven on Tuesday. They were released after posting bonds of $300,000 and $250,000, respectively.

Bradley was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud, and Martinez was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, one count of making a false statement to the FBI, and one count of making a false declaration before the grand jury. The conspiracy and fraud offenses carry a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count, and the false statement and declaration offenses carry a maximum term of five years in prison on each count.

Bradley, 38, has represented the 23rd State Senate District since 2018 and Martinez, 39, worked as treasurer of his campaign.

In the 2018 campaign, Bradley, Martinez, and others are accused of conspiring to defraud the Connecticut State Election Enforcement Commission (“SEEC”), the Citizens’ Election Fund, and the State of Connecticut by making “misrepresentations concerning Bradley’s compliance with state election law and the requirements and restrictions” of the Citizens’ Election Program (“CEP”), a voluntary public election-financing program under which candidates can apply to SEEC for grants to fund their primary and general election campaigns, according to officials.

“Candidates for public office must be held to a high standard of conduct, especially when they apply for public funds for their campaigns,” Boyle said in a statement. “It is alleged that these defendants not only broke the rules at the outset of Mr. Bradley’s first campaign for the State Senate, but then engaged in an extensive cover up to conceal their illegal behavior and to receive additional public funds. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our FBI partners are committed to holding public officials to account.”

Bradley, Martinez, and their co-conspirators are accused of violating CEP rules by holding a campaign event in March 2018 at Dolphin’s Cove restaurant in Bridgeport. They then engaged in a “scheme to trick SEEC into awarding his campaign undeserved CEP grants by making misrepresentations and omissions to disguise the nature of that event,” according to officials.

“It is alleged that, although CEP rules imposed a $2,000 limit on Bradley’s expenditure of personal funds, Bradley used personal funds to pay Dolphin’s Cove $5,597.31 for the campaign event, and used personal funds for other campaign expenditures related to the event, including printed invitations and a band,” officials wrote in a news release. “It is further alleged that, in an attempt to hide the March 15 campaign event from SEEC, Bradley, Martinez and their co-conspirators claimed it was a ‘Thank You Party’ for friends and clients of Bradley’s law firm, Bradley, Denkovich & Karayiannis, P.C., also known as BDK Law Group.”

Officials said that while at least eight donors gave to Bradley’s campaign at the Dolphin’s Cove event, Bradley’s and Martinez’s co-conspirators “altered and falsified the contribution cards so that none were dated March 15, 2018.”

“It is further alleged that, although CEP rules required complete and truthful disclosures of Bradley’s campaign contributions and expenditures, in April, May and June 2018, Bradley’s campaign filed Itemized Campaign Finance Disclosure Statements with SEEC that omitted that Bradley had held a campaign event on March 15, 2018 at Dolphin’s Cove restaurant, omitted that Bradley had incurred approximately $6,307 in expenses for the event, omitted that Bradley had accepted multiple campaign contributions at the event, and misrepresented the dates of those March 15, 2018 contributions,” the news release states. “It is further alleged that on May 24, 2018, Bradley and Martinez applied for a CEP grant to fund Bradley’s Democratic primary campaign. On July 10, 2018, relying on the false and misleading information contained in Bradley’s filings, SEEC issued the campaign $84,140 in public funds.”

Bradley won the Democratic primary on Aug. 14, 2018, with approximately 55 percent of the vote.

After issuing a CEP primary grant to Bradley, the SEEC began investigating a citizen complaint regarding Bradley’s campaign, including the campaign event at Dolphin’s Cove. On Aug. 21, 2018, Bradley emailed a letter to SEEC in which he denied all the allegations in the citizen complaint as “frivolous and manipulative,” according to the news release.

“In that letter, Bradley falsely stated, ‘On March 15, 2018, BDK hosted a Client Appreciation event at Dolphin’s Cove restaurant[.] … This was in no shape or form a political event. … In fact, we did not collect any donations at this event and have no donations dated 03/15/2018,’” the news release states.

On Oct. 12, 2018, after Bradley and Martinez attempted to obtain an additional $95,710 CEP grant to fund Bradley’s general election campaign, Martinez made “similar false statements under oath to SEEC,” according to officials.

Bradley was eventually denied a general election grant by the SEEC. Bradley won the general election in with approximately 87 percent of the vote.

Martinez is accused of making similar false statements to investigating FBI special agents in March 2020, and under oath before the grand jury in September 2020, according to officials.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation is committed to protecting the citizens of Connecticut against all forms of illegal fraud and deception,” FBI Special Agent in Charge David Sundberg said in a statement. “Maintaining the integrity of our state and federal election processes is crucial to ensuring the will of the voting public is carried out based on truth and fairness.”