{"id":2223569,"date":"2024-04-17T18:02:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T22:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutor-california-da-dropped-bombshell-election-data-case-because-it-might-help-trump\/"},"modified":"2024-04-17T18:05:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T22:05:25","slug":"prosecutor-california-da-dropped-bombshell-election-data-case-because-it-might-help-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutor-california-da-dropped-bombshell-election-data-case-because-it-might-help-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"California District Attorney Drops Election Data Case To Potentially Benefit Trump, Prosecutor Reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fprosecutor-california-da-dropped-bombshell-election-data-case-because-it-might-help-trump%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2223569&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The lead\u200c prosecutor \u200cfiled a complaint alleging that the L.A. County \u2063DA dismissed\u200d criminal charges against Konnech&#8217;s CEO for political reasons. \u2062The case involves the mishandling of sensitive election\u2064 data and a subsequent \u200dcontroversial dismissal \u200dof charges. The\u2062 complaint\u2064 raises concerns about the influence of politics on legal \u200dproceedings and decision-making processes within the DA&#8217;s office. The complaint \u2064by the lead prosecutor accuses the L.A. County DA\u200c of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-to-fight-twin-battles-to-toss-cases-in-georgia-and-new-york\/\" title=\"Trump to challenge legal cases in Georgia and New York\">dropping criminal charges<\/a>\u2062 against Konnech&#8217;s CEO due \u2064to political motives. It centers around mishandling sensitive election data and the contentious\u2063 decision to dismiss\u2063 charges. The complaint highlights how politics may impact legal \u200bproceedings and \u200cdecision-making within the DA&#8217;s office.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>L.A. County District Attorney George Gascon improperly \u2014 and for political reasons \u2014 dismissed the criminal charges against the CEO of election software services company Konnech, a governmental tort <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/724074908\/Neff-Tort-Claim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">complaint<\/a> filed Wednesday by the lead prosecutor on the case claims. That eight-page complaint against Gascon with the county Board of Supervisors further alleges the DA retaliated against his lead prosecutor for opposing the dismissal of the charges \u2014 and reveals many more previously unknown and troubling details about the entire case.<\/p>\n<p>On Oct. 4, 2022, the L.A. County district attorney\u2019s office announced Eugene Yu, the CEO of the Michigan-based Konnech, had been arrested in conjunction with criminal charges pending in California. In announcing Yu\u2019s arrest, the DA\u2019s office stated that \u201cunder its $2.9 million, five-year contract with the county, Konnech was supposed to securely maintain the data and that only United States citizens and permanent residents have access to it.\u201d However, in violation of the contract, \u201cinformation was stored on servers in the People\u2019s Republic of China,\u201d according to the press release.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-751767784\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6f8ec3bbfaf6971c9a9be9649e0cd632 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6f8ec3bbfaf6971c9a9be9649e0cd632\"><\/div>\n<p>Yu was later arrested and extradited to California, where the far-left Gascon eventually dismissed the criminal charges against Yu. L.A. County later also approved a $5 million <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/25\/technology\/los-angeles-county-eugene-yu-wrongful-charges.html\">payout<\/a> to Yu to settle a civil lawsuit the Konnech CEO had filed against the government.<\/p>\n<p>From a legal perspective, the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/11\/18\/in-this-untold-story-of-poll-worker-data-chinese-servers-and-scandal-only-the-fbi-knows-the-truth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dismissal<\/a> of the criminal charges was baffling, as the criminal complaint filed against Yu stated that during the execution of a search warrant at Konnech, the government recovered evidence that employees had \u201csent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/asians-are-victims-of-white-supremacy-narrative-comes-from-activists-pushing-policies-rejected-by-many-asians\/\" title=\"\u2018Asians Are Victims Of White Supremacy\u2019 Narrative Comes From Activists Pushing Policies Rejected By Many Asians\">personal identifying information<\/a> of Los Angeles County election workers to third<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scandal-plagued-election-software-company-konnech-has-significant-chinese-links\/\" title=\"Scandal-plagued Election Software Company Konnech Has Significant Chinese Links\">-party software developers<\/a> who assisted with the creating and fixing [of] Konnech\u2019s internal \u2018PollChief\u2019 software.\u201d The criminal complaint further stated that a project manager for Konnech\u2019s contract with L.A. County \u201cconfirmed via the messaging app DingTalk that any employee for Chinese contractors working on PollChief software had \u2018superadministrative\u2019 privileges for all PollChief clients.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Politics, however, seemed to explain Gascon\u2019s decision, as soon after news of Yu\u2019s arrest broke, the right-leaning group True the Vote issued a press release, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/true-the-vote-issues-statement-regarding-the-arrest-of-konnech-ceo-eugene-yu-301640993.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stating<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>True the Vote is honored to have played a small role in what must have been a wide ranging and complex investigation. The organization is profoundly grateful to the Los Angeles District Attorney\u2019s office for their thorough work and rapid action in this matter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gregg Phillips, a former board member of True the Vote, claimed he had testified \u201cin the grand jury in Los Angeles County that eventually indicted Mr. Yu.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3b3adfe9e5b349539207237f23e303ab fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3b3adfe9e5b349539207237f23e303ab\"><\/div>\n<p>As I reported at the time, Gascon\u2019s office initially claimed Phillips played no role in the investigation but later <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/11\/18\/in-this-untold-story-of-poll-worker-data-chinese-servers-and-scandal-only-the-fbi-knows-the-truth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">acknowledged<\/a> Phillips\u2019 report to the Public Integrity Division was \u201cthe first step in a thorough independent and still ongoing investigation which ultimately led to the arrest and charging of Mr. Yu.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The reasonable inference from these facts \u2014 that the decision to drop the charges against Konnech was a political one \u2014 now has further support by the complaint filed by lead prosecutor Eric Neff.<\/p>\n<p>Neff\u2019s complaint to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, filed by Neff\u2019s attorney as notice of a \u201cgovernmental tort claim\u201d \u2014 a prerequisite to suing civilly \u2014 provides a behind-the-scenes summary of the investigation, the resulting charges, and the eventual dismissal. <\/p>\n<p>According to Neff, Yu, through Konnech, provided services to Los Angeles under a nearly $3 million contract: \u201cAs part of this contract, Konnech was entrusted with sensitive and confidential information regarding County election workers\u2026\u201d Following an investigation and the eventual execution of a search warrant at Konnech, Yu\u2019s \u201ccomputer servers were confiscated,\u201d Neff explained. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e331d5fd41f73904ca8e937ac1ca0996 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e331d5fd41f73904ca8e937ac1ca0996\"><\/div>\n<p>District attorney investigations, according to Neff\u2019s complaint, \u201crecovered several explosive pieces of evidence in the form of electronic communications as well as one cooperating witness \u2014 an employee with knowledge of the company\u2019s facially inadequate practices and procedures.\u201d That evidence showed, according to Neff, that \u201cKonnech was sending sensitive [Personal Identifying Information] data to Chinese-owned and operated third-party contractors through Chinese-owned and operated messaging applications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his internal complaint, Neff stated that between Oct. 6, 2022, and Oct. 12, 2022, his entire chain of command in the DA\u2019s office \u201cthoroughly reviewed the investigation and evidence against Mr. Yu.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately, the case was reviewed by the highest ranking non-elected prosecutor in the office,\u201d Neff continued, \u201cwho approved the filing of a criminal complaint against Mr. Yu.\u201d That felony complaint was filed on Oct. 13, 2022. <\/p>\n<p>What happened next was pure politics, Neff\u2019s narrative suggests:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>On or about October 17, 2022, DA Gascon was overwhelmingly concerned that since he had inadvertently gained Mr. Trump\u2019s (and the far-right wing, election deniers) support, the outlook of such support by prosecuting Mr. Yu would impact his stance and popularity politically.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gascon first assigned another attorney, Luke Sisak, to lead the prosecution and supervise Neff. Then, according to Neff, on Nov. 10, 2022, Sisak informed Neff \u201cthat management from the DA\u2019s Office had ordered the case to be dismissed.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Neff claims he \u201cverbally complained to Mr. Sisak that there was no legal basis for the dismissal,\u201d and \u201c[m]ore importantly, Mr. Neff objected to the dismissal because he had reasonable cause to believe that his participation in the dismissal was against the law,\u201d and \u201cwas a politically based dismissal not in furtherance of justice.\u201d The complaint then detailed the various bases for Neff\u2019s concerns. According to Neff, Gascon then ordered his assistant head deputy to appear in court to dismiss the case.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter on Nov. 14, 2022, Neff, as he put it, \u201creduced the complaints\u201d about the dismissal of the charges against Yu in writing, claiming \u201cthat the dismissal was politically motivated.\u201d Neff further objected to Gascon\u2019s decision \u201cbecause a prosecutor cannot use political gains as a basis for dismissing a prosecution of a criminal matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two days later, Neff was put on administrative leave, pending an internal investigation, according to the internal complaint Neff filed Wednesday with the county. Nearly a year-and-a-half later, \u201cNeff was informed that the investigation was completed and that no disciplinary actions would be taken against him.\u201d According to Neff, the result of the investigation should be \u201cthere was no evidence that Mr. Neff committed any misconduct.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Neff was finally reinstated on April 4, 2024. But according to Neff, \u201cin retaliation to the complaints he made concerning the unlawful dismissal of Mr. Yu\u2019s prosecution, DA Gascon removed Mr. Neff from his position prosecuting political corruption to a much less desirable assignment of Welfare Fraud Unit.\u201d That reassignment adversely affected Neff\u2019s working conditions, his prospect for advancement, and other promotions, his complaint alleges.<\/p>\n<p>The internal complaint against Gascon appears to be a precursor to Neff suing the DA\u2019s office in a civil complaint. And if that happens, it seems likely the public will learn much more about what Konnech and Yu did, or didn\u2019t do \u2014 and why the DA dropped the charges.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4c1182539ed74fab9229d6997cc2c81e fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4c1182539ed74fab9229d6997cc2c81e\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The lead prosecutor in a governmental tort complaint alleged that L.A. County DA George Gascon, for political reasons, improperly dropped criminal charges against Konnech&#8217;s CEO. The complaint, filed Wednesday, accuses Gascon of mishandling the case and was submitted to the county Board of Supervisors in an eight-page document<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":2223570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-17-at-2.26.55%E2%80%AFPM.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2223569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-17-at-2.26.55%E2%80%AFPM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2223569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2223570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2223569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2223569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2223569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}