A Torrance man, Omar Navarro, who has run for a congressional seat in Los Angeles County in four elections, is facing charges of misusing campaign funds. The charges include diverting campaign donations to himself through friends and family. The documents related to the case were unsealed on Wednesday.
Navarro, 34, is named in a 43-count federal grand jury indictment, and although he is presently in state custody for unrelated offenses, he is expected to be transferred to federal authorities soon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The FBI also arrested Dora Asghari, Navarro’s mother, and Zacharias Diamantides-Abel, a friend of Navarro, in connection with the case. Both Asghari and Abel are accused of conspiring with Navarro to convert campaign donations for personal use.
In recent election cycles, Navarro campaigned unsuccessfully to represent California’s 43rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
All three defendants are charged with conspiracy. Navarro faces additional charges of wire fraud, falsification of records, and prohibited use of campaign funds. Asghari is charged with wire fraud, while Abel is charged with wire fraud as well.
The indictment, returned on September 14 and unsealed this week, alleges that from September 2017 to July 2020, Navarro illegally redirected campaign funds for personal gain. The indictment outlines a scheme in which Navarro allegedly made payments from his campaign to various individuals, including his mother and Abel, before directing the transfer of money back to himself.
According to the indictment, Navarro also used campaign funds to cover personal expenses such as trips to Las Vegas and wine country, as well as payments to criminal defense attorneys. He allegedly reported these expenditures falsely as campaign expenses to the Federal Election Commission.
Prosecutors claim that Asghari and Abel helped conceal Navarro’s misuse of campaign funds by frequently cashing the checks instead of depositing them into their personal bank accounts. If the checks were deposited, they would subsequently withdraw the funds to share with Navarro.
During the period from December 2017 to June 2020, Abel and Asghari are said to have received $49,260 and $58,625, respectively, from Navarro’s campaign. Asghari reportedly established a shell company to facilitate the receipt of these campaign payments and subsequent transfers to Navarro and his own shell company.
The indictment alleges that Navarro deposited over $100,000 in cash into his personal accounts from January 2018 to July 2020, despite having no other source of income apart from the campaign funds. Many of these deposits coincided with when Abel or Asghari cashed campaign checks.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office also claims that Navarro created a fraudulent charity called the United Latino Foundation to further embezzle funds from his campaign for personal use.
If convicted, Navarro, Asghari, and Abel could each face up to five years in federal prison for conspiracy and up to 20 years for each count of wire fraud. Navarro would also face possible prison terms of up to 20 years for falsification of records and up to five years for each count of prohibited use of campaign contributions.
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