Gabe Whitley holds a rally outside the Winfield K. Denton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Evansville, Ind., May 10, 2023. (Photo by MaCabe Brown/Courier & Press)
Former Indiana congressional candidate Gabriel ‘Gabe’ Whitley is admitting that he falsified campaign finance records, saying he lied about raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions ahead of the May 2024 primary.
Questions about Whitley’s campaign finances were first reported by the Indiana Capital Chronicle early last year.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana said in Wednesday evening news release that Whitley will plead guilty to making false statements to the Federal Election Commission by fabricating contributions purportedly made to his campaign, “Honest Gabe for Congress,” for the purpose of “falsely portraying that his campaign had significantly greater support and financial resources than it actually did.”
Whitley was a Republican candidate in the primary election for Indiana’s Seventh Congressional District — which comprises much of Indianapolis — and served as treasurer of his campaign committee, according to court documents.
He now faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years probation. It will be up to a federal district court judge to determine his exact sentence at a Jan. 28 hearing.
Indiana congressional candidate faces campaign finance scrutiny
The U.S. attorney’s office said Whitley admitted that he lied to the FEC in three separate reports about hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from supporters and loans from himself.
“Specifically, Whitley admitted that in October 2023, he falsely claimed that 67 people, whose biographical details he made up, had contributed approximately $222,690 to Honest Gabe for Congress,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.
In January 2024, Whitley again falsely reported contributions from individuals “whose biographical details he fabricated.” He did the same in April 2024, falsifying a $100,000 loan to his campaign.
The FBI Indianapolis Field Office investigated the case.
Complaints alleging Whitley’s excessive campaign contributions and fraudulent financial reporting were sent to the FEC and the Indiana Election Division in February by Gabrielle Kendall, wife of WIBC radio host Rob Kendall. At the time, Whitley told the Capital Chronicle the accusations were “absurd.”
When asked by the Capital Chronicle if the contested donors are real, Whitley said “there’s no more comment I’m going to say on that,” Whitley said. “We’ve been in compliance with the FEC. We talked with them. We have a good relationship with them.”
Previously, questions about Whitley’s campaign finances were raised by The Evansville Courier & Press stemming from his short-lived Evansville mayoral campaign.
The paper reported Whitley’s fundraising reports filed with the state in 2021 and 2022 raised questions that he may have violated Indiana election law by documenting he raised thousands of dollars in campaign cash from people who denied giving him donations.
Whitley said he hired an unnamed political consulting firm to solicit contributions via email on his behalf. He reported no such expenditures on his 2021 and 2022 campaign finance filings, however.
In August, Whitley was arrested in a separate case for alleged online threats and harassment he made against Indianapolis-based political commentator Abdul-Hakim Shabazz. That case is still pending in Marion County Superior Court.
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