Dana Williamson pleaded guilty to federal charges linked to bank fraud and making false statements, with allegations involving a $225,000 scheme.

SACRAMENTO, Calif — Dana Williamson pled guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, subscribing to a false tax return and making false statements to federal investigators, according to a plea agreement filed Wednesday in the Eastern District of California.

Williamson was originally charged with 23 federal counts. Among the charges, she was accused of co-conspiring in a scheme to siphon money from a dormant campaign account belonging to Xavier Becerra, California’s former attorney general and current gubernatorial candidate, who was serving at the time as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary under then-President Biden.

A grand jury accused Williamson and co-conspirators of orchestrating a scheme to steal approximately $225,000 from a dormant campaign account of Becerra.

Court documents say this spanned February 2022 through September 2024. Williamson served as Newsom’s chief of staff for about two years, leaving in November 2024.

The plea agreement was filed May 14 in Sacramento federal court. Prosectors also said the government will move at time of sentencing to dismiss the remaining counts in the pending indictment. It also says Williamson agreed to pay restitution of about $504,523 to the Internal Revenue Service related to tax losses and $225,000 in restitution for the total loss to the victim, which will be joint and several with any other co-conspirators who are ordered to pay restitution.

Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a sentence within the applicable federal guideline range determined by the court. Williamson faces a maximum sentence that includes up to 30 years in prison on the conspiracy charge, a fine of $1 million, a five-year period of supervised release and a special assessment of $100. Sentencing will be scheduled by the court.  For the false tax return and false statements charges, those include up to 3 years of incarceration and five years of incarceration, respectively.

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