A bombshell federal fraud case exploded inside Gov. Newsom’s powerful political orbit

Los Angeles Times ^ | Nov. 13, 2025 1:08 PM PT | Kevin Rector, Sonja Sharp, Melody Gutierrez and Jessica Garrison

[E. Pluribus Unum]

• The federal case against Newsom’s former chief of staff Dana Williamson and other well-connected aides reaches deep into one of the most powerful political circles in California, and the country.
• An attorney for Williamson said she was approached by federal authorities for help in an undisclosed probe involving Newsom, but told them she had no information to share.
• Newsom has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and his office said it is unaware of any investigation of the governor.

As Gov. Gavin Newsom flew around the country last year campaigning for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his chief of staff, Dana Williamson — known as one of California’s toughest political insiders — was not only helping to helm the ship in Sacramento but also under criminal investigation by federal law enforcement.

The resulting criminal case, which splashed into public view with Williamson’s arrest Wednesday, does not implicate Newsom in any wrongdoing. Williamson’s alleged misdeeds occurred in private work before her joining his staff, and his office said it placed her on leave in November 2024 after she informed him she was under investigation.

Nonetheless, the bombshell allegations struck at the center of the political power circle surrounding Newsom, rattling one of the nation’s most prominent and important hubs of Democratic state power at a time when President Trump and his Republican administration wield power in Washington.

Williamson was charged with bank and tax fraud for allegedly siphoning campaign and COVID-19 recovery funds into her and an associate’s pockets and claiming personal luxuries as business expenses on tax forms. According to the indictment, the campaign funds were drawn from a dormant state account of another top California Democrat: gubernatorial candidate and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

[ChildOfThe60s]

𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬

She’s not under investigation for “misdeeds”, she is under investigation for CRIMES.

Ain’t the same thing.

Also for the record, lying is not “mispeaking”

Words have meaning, even if that fact troubles the leftist media.

[Night Hides Not]

The PPP fraud chickens continue to come home to roost.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Do I have to look?

[ChildOfThe60s]

She is a fat, fugly white woman

[unixfox]

There’s that word again...

BOMBSHELL

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It had to be one of the two, I suppose.