State Senator Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) and U.S. Reps. (and sisters) Loretta and Linda Sanchez (D-Garden Grove and Lakewood, respectively) joined legal forces Wednesday in filing a lawsuit against their disgraced former campaign treasurer, Kinde Durkee.
The trio is being represented in Los Angeles County Superior Court by a heavy-hitter when it comes to Orange County law and Democratic politics, Wylie Aitken.
The chairman of the Democratic Foundation of Orange County for 17 years before he stepped down in 2010, Aitken alleges his clients—who also include Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego)—lost a combined $1.4 million in campaign funds to Durkee's thieving, frauding and contract breaching.
But Aitken, who once famously won a wrongful death judgment against Disneyland, does not stop at Durkee, claiming the treasurer was “aided and abetted” by her husband, John Forgy, and First California Bank, who it can be assumed has deeper pockets than the couple.
“In exchange for fees and profits, First California Bank intentionally ignored dozens of red flags, ignored its duties and obligations under state and federal law, and allowed Durkee to perpetuate the scheme,'' reads the suit (via the Los Angeles Times' Patrick McGreevy).
Durkee was previously sued by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and the longtime treasurer for Democrats up and down California has been separately charged in criminal count with mail fraud.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.