PHOENIX, May 26 (UPI) — Prosecutors will ask a Phoenix judge to sentence the former head of the Fiesta Bowl to prison for his role in a campaign-finance scheme, court documents said.
John Junker faces sentencing in U.S. District Court June 24 and the Justice Department proposed in documents filed last week that he be given a year and a day in custody, the Arizona Republic said.
Junker was one of six current and former Fiesta Bowl official convicted in a campaign scandal uncovered by the Republic in 2009. The scheme involved reimbursements for bowl employees who made campaign contributions to certain candidates.
No one has gone to prison yet, but Junker was identified as the ringleader of the conspiracy, which benefited both state and federal office-seekers who were in a position to help out the bowl. Junker pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge last year.
Junker’s attorney has argued for no jail time on the grounds he assisted in the state version of the investigation and because some of the campaign-finance laws he was accused of violating had since been struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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