Duncan Hunter Sentenced To Prison For Misusing Campaign Funds

SAN DIEGO, CA — Former Rep. Duncan Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in federal prison Tuesday after using hundreds of thousands in campaign funds for personal expenditures.

Hunter, a Republican who represented California's 50th congressional district from 2013 to January 2020, must also go on three years of supervised release after he serves his prison term. The 43-year-old was ordered to surrender to authorities on May 29.

Hunter pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and admitted to spending $250,000 in campaign funds on clothes, family vacations, restaurant and bar tabs, and other frivolous expenses over the course of several years. He told his staff that the purchases were campaign-related.

Hunter, along with his wife and former campaign manager, Margaret, were charged in 2018 in a 60-count indictment. She also pleaded guilty last year to misusing campaign funds and is slated to be sentenced next month.

Prosecutors argued the Hunters were "virtually penniless" and amid dire financial straits, resorted to using campaign credit cards to support "a profligate lifestyle leading to continual debt and an ever-increasing need to find cash to pay bills," according to a prosecutor's sentencing memorandum.

Despite the family bank account not carrying a positive balance throughout any single month between 2009 and 2017, prosecutors said the family lived extravagantly, racking up thousands on expensive family trips and scores of other improper personal purchases, according to the memorandum.

It was also alleged that Hunter used campaign funds to pursue extramarital affairs and repeatedly used campaign credit cards or sought reimbursement for expenses that included resort hotel rooms, airfare, a skiing trip and Uber rides to and from the homes of five women with whom he had "intimate relationships."

Despite the charges, Hunter was re-elected in November 2018. He resigned from Congress in January.

• Also read: Rep. Duncan Hunter To Resign From Congress After Guilty Plea

The 50th District encompasses most of east San Diego County and a portion of Riverside County.

A Republican had held the seat since 1981. The seat was represented by Hunter's father, Duncan L. Hunter, from 1981-2009.

Nine candidates competed for the seat during the state's primary election in March. Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar will compete against former Republican Rep. Darrell Issa in a November runoff.

• Also read: Campa-Najjar, Issa To Runoff In San Diego's 50th District Race

City News Service and Patch editor Kristina Houck contributed to this report.