More from Puerto Rico

The Times fills-in the story on the indictment of the governor of Puerto Rico:

The governor and the other defendants, if convicted, face possible prison terms of 3 to 20 years and fines of up to $250,000 on each count, the authorities said.

The 27-count indictment accuses the defendants of conspiring to illegally raise money to pay off large debts stemming from Mr. Acevedo’s successful campaigns in 2000 and 2002 to be Puerto Rico’s nonvoting representative in Congress, a position he held from 2001 to 2005, the year he became governor. The reported campaign debt in 2000 was about $545,000, the indictment says.

In the scheme, the indictment asserts, Mr. Acevedo, with the help of other defendants, solicited and then reimbursed illegal campaign contributions from members of Mr. Acevedo’s family and staff, and from the family members and staff of a group of business executives in and around Philadelphia.

In an effort to circumvent contribution limits, the governor and his associates disguised the source of the contributions by listing them under other people’s names, the indictment alleges.

In return for the Pennsylvania contributions, the indictment says, Mr. Acevedo helped the business executives obtain contracts from Puerto Rican government agencies for themselves and their clients.

During the governor’s successful 2004 gubernatorial bid, the indictment says, Puerto Rican business executives made large and unreported donations to the campaign — as much as $50,000 apiece — by disguising them as payments to the campaign’s public relations and media company. The campaign would paper over the contributions by drawing up fake invoices to make them appear to be payments for legitimate business expenses.

The indictment also accuses Mr. Acevedo of spending campaign funds on personal expenses and illegally failing to report it on his income tax returns. Federal officials say that Mr. Acevedo used this money to pay for family vacations in Miami, Orlando and China; to pay for $57,000 worth of “high-end” clothing; and to pay personal credit card bills.

Ambinder reports he is an Obama superdelegate.

His FEC reports are online.  The committee tried to terminate its reporting obligation in 2004, but the FEC had further questions.  Someone once said that trying to terminate a PAC is like Hotel California:  “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”

There are at least two FEC Matters Under Review involving the governor, with a summary here.