Jason McGuire, executive director of New York Families Foundation, is serving eight weekends behind bars after pleading guilty in April to two counts of submitting false campaign documents.
Despite the guilty plea and conviction, McGuire remains the leader of New York Families because many fellow conservatives angrily insist he was unfairly targeted by Letitia James, the state’s notorious Democrat attorney general.
According to James’ version of the criminal investigation, McGuire illegally used $16,000 in funds from the Livingston County Conservative Party for personal expenses and got caught by state investigators. A review of financial documents showed he transferred approximately $16,000 in LCCP funds over two years, 2020 and 2021, to his personal banking account.
Investigators alleged he hid the payments by not reporting them on campaign finance reports.
According to his plea deal, McGuire pleaded guilty to two counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing, a misdemeanor under New York law.
According to McGuire and New York Families, the back story tells the real story. A statement from the group says it endured three years of state investigation that produced more than 7,000 pages of documents and was costing tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. To continue to fight the Office of Attorney General’s investigation during a criminal trial would have been expensive for the non-profit, the statement reads, so McGuire instead entered a guilty plea.
“We are blessed to have a leader who places the interests of the organization ahead of his own interests,” the statement continues. “With the full support of the Board, NYFF looks forward to Jason’s continued leadership of our organization.”
In an interview with AFN, McGuire says he is the victim of relentless, political lawfare because his organization has critized Attorney General James and supported her campaign opponent. The guilty plea, he says, amounts to a false confession over a bookkeeping error to spare New York Families any more legal expenses.
“We've been through eight different subpoenas, resulting in demands for several thousand pages of documentation,” he tells AFN. “They sought access to my donors, attendees for my events, sermons I preached.”
Attorney General James is most famous for successfully suing Donald Trump and his family in 2022 over allegations of bank fraud for inflating the value of their properties.
James learned in May, however, she is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice over alleged mortgage fraud for a home she owns in Norfolk, Virginia. In bank documents she listed the home as a primary residence, which is false, since her primary residence is in New York.
A real estate attorney told Fox News the false statement meets the definition of fraud but is not a criminal charge.
In an X post before his first weekend in jail, McGuire vowed he won't stop working for conservative causes.
"I will serve these weekends in jail, but I will not be silent," he wrote. "I will not stop defending life, marriage, parental rights, and religious liberty in New York. If anything, this only strengthens my resolve."
