BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The company founded by Steve Casey, former Deputy Mayor of Buffalo, has been convicted of wire fraud.
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced LSA Strategies LLC, a media production and political consulting firm in Buffalo, was convicted of wire fraud and ordered to pay restitution totaling $8,283.59.
According to court documents, Casey and founded LSA Strategies, LLC in June 2012 and was the sole member. Between August 20 and September 19, 2012, LSA Strategies devised a scheme to defraud a candidate, former Erie County Legislator Chuck Swanick (referred to as "candidate 1" in court documents) who was running for the New York State Senate 60th District.
The U.S. Attorney's Office detailed the scheme to defraud below:
"Steven Casey provided consulting services to Candidate 1, including arranging for campaign mailings to be printed by Company 1. In doing so, Casey requested that Company 1 increase each of its invoices to Candidate 1 by a specified amount. However, Casey did not inform Candidate 1 of the increase in the amount of the invoices, rather Casey led the candidate to believe that he was working on a voluntary basis. Candidate 1 was unaware that Company 1’s invoices were being increased to provide sums of money to Casey and LSA. After Candidate 1 paid the invoices, Company 1 paid LSA the amount by which the invoices had been increased. In total, Company 1 paid LSA $8,283.59."
