Political strategist Jared Kamrass admitted during interrogation that he kept $15,000 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation handed him for Governor John Cranley’s effort, as was revealed by the senior FBI agent in the money laundering probe that led to P.G. Sittenfeld’s prosecution.

When this took place, what finally occurred to the funds, and the reason FBI agents provided Jared Kamrass money for a Cranley project were all unknown at the time.

In addition to processing Sittenfeld’s contributions and managing prior campaigns to raise money for Cranley, he functioned as the PAC’s secretary.

In order to help the defense, Jared Kamrass will give evidence

Court documents reveal that Jared Kamrass may face prosecution for “violating federal regulations about usual, legal methods of financing campaigns and fundraising,” which are unrelated to Sittenfeld’s issue.

Several court documents pertaining to this case identify someone as “Public Official A.”

Additional court papers identify this individual as Cincinnati’s governor at the time the inquiry was underway, and they state the following:

According to Cincinnati’s city charter, Public Official A could reject a council decision, but the members of the council might invalidate that decision with six out of nine votes, according to an appeal motion filed by the prosecution.

One of Sittenfeld’s financing consultants allegedly lied to Jared Kamrass in a recent defensive statement “about following up with (an actual FBI agent) to confirm proper LLC principal attribution facts.” The moment Mr. Sittenfeld learned of this falsehood, he dismissed the person for lying, an act the person has now confirmed to the FBI. Unbeknownst to Mr. Sitteneld, the same person, while working for Public Official A, committed different offenses, unrelated to Mr. Sittenfeld, leading to the person’s eventual status as a government cooperator.

According to court evidence, FBI agents started looking into governmental corruption in Cincinnati in 2017.

Agent Nathan Holbrook reassigned 

Early in 2018, Special Agent Nathan Holbrook was reassigned to the FBI office in Cincinnati and was handed a number of pending cases. One included Chinedum Ndukwe, a former Cincinnati Bengals player who is now a developer.

After an inquiry discovered that Ndukwe had been involved in “IRA premature withdrawal contraventions in 2013, campaign financing violations of laws in 2013, and a variety of additional possible government offenses. According to court documents, Ndukwe began working with the FBI in March 2018 and received $27,000 in payments from the government over the course of 2018 and 2019 to target government workers.

Ndukwe acknowledged taking $40,000 out of an IRA in 2013 and giving it to a friend, who pocketed $5,000 and transferred $35,000 to bank accounts, enabling Ndukwe to evade election finance reporting obligations, according to testimony from Holbrook.

In the words of Holbrook, Jared Kamrass provided Cranley, Chris Smitherman, Charlie Winburn, then-members of the Cincinnati City Council, more than two dozen money orders in other people’s names as well as nine cashier checks.

According to Ndukwe’s “proffer” contract with the government, which was read in the courtroom, the three individuals and Ndukwe met in 2013 and spoke about ways to get around restrictions on political funding.

Who is Jared Kamrass?

Jared Kamrass claims to be an accomplished political strategist and communications specialist with a history of achievement. 

Currently, Jared Kamrass is a senior strategist for Democratic candidates and issues at Technicolor Political in Washington, DC. In this capacity, he counsels customers on paid communication strategy, budgeting, and targeting. He also writes, produces, and deploys multimedia content on their behalf, such as radio, TV, and digital advertisements.

Prior to working at Technicolor Political, Jared served as the Principal and Chief Strategist at Rivertown Strategies in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked with clients to develop marketing and message strategies, drafted campaign plans and organized employees and contractors.

Additionally, Jared Kamrass created coalitions and fostered relationships between business leaders, community groups, elected officials, and the press, organized and carried out extensive raising money activities for federal, state, and close initiatives, and drafted general strategic recommendations to candidates and initiative personnel. 

Who has already seen and who might do so soon are listed below.

The first witness for the prosecution was Kevin Flynn, a former member of the Cincinnati City Council who served alongside Sittenfeld from 2013 to 2017.

Flynn’s evidence from earlier this week was restricted to providing a broad overview of how municipal government, council, and real estate transactions operate.

Second, to speak was the previous head of Cincinnati’s economic growth.

The Port Authority has promoted Phil Denning to executive vice president.

There are more than 40 other potential witnesses scheduled to give testimony for each side and the government.

The number of people who will give evidence is not yet known. The outcome of the case will determine that.

The prosecution requested that the judge place restrictions on how Sittenfeld’s lawyers might defend him, but according to court documents, “if the defendant presents evidence related to these inquiries, this again ‘opens the door’ for the government to introduce clarifying evidence supporting those investigations, if needed.”

Prosecutors would then have the choice to bring rebuttal fresh witnesses and/or new evidence if, for example, Sittenfeld did take the stand in his own defense.

The prosecution has the following witnesses:

• Chinedum Ndukwe
• Brunner
• Democratic strategist Jared Kamrass represents a number of Democratic candidates through his political consulting business. Although Sittenfeld’s lawyers opposed to his testifying, the judge said last week that he can do so since his testimony pertains to Sittenfeld’s “the goal and conduct at issue in this case.”
• Former chief of staff of Mayor John Cranley, who held office from December 2013 until the beginning of 2022, Jay Kincaid is a political strategist. Kincaid was a lobbyist for Ndukwe after he left his position as Cranley’s chief of staff, the FBI agent stated in court. Holbrook further claimed that Ndukwe informed him that Sittenfeld had instructed him to speak with Kincaid about the best way to “discretely” arrange gifts.
• A public accountant named Claire McKenna.
• Co-CEO of FC Cincinnati Jeff Berding
• Vice President and general manager of Turner Construction, David Spaulding

The Bottom Line 

Several Democratic candidates are represented by Jared Kamrass through his political consulting firm. But, he was not able to save himself from the court.