Welp.
Judge KP George
Fort Bend County Judge KP George was convicted Friday of felony money laundering after jurors found he funneled campaign funds into personal accounts and used the money to cover his personal expenses.
The verdict came after several hours of deliberations that began around 2 p.m Thursday.
At trial, prosecutors laid out a series of transactions they said showed George shifting money out of campaign accounts, routing it through personal bank accounts and spending it on a down payment on a house and other expenses.
They pointed to roughly $46,500 in withdrawals, arguing the repeated movement of money was intentional, not a bookkeeping issue.
“This man lied repeatedly,” prosecutor Katie Peterson told jurors. “Crimes have consequences. Lies have consequences.”
George’s defense centered on the claim that the money was his to begin with and that the transactions were transfers between his own accounts.
[…]
George will remain in office until he is formally sentenced, according to the district attorney’s office. If George appeals his conviction, he may stay in office pending the appeal, unless a judge rules that he must be removed. George’s sentencing is unofficially scheduled for June.
See here for the previous update. I can’t wait to see a tweet from Sen. Bettencourt calling on George to resign as County Judge. I’m also greatly amused that the main witness he called on for his defense was Andy freaking Taylor, like good Lord, man.
Anyway. This was all very tawdry, I’m sorry that Fort Bend has to deal with this, and I’m so glad he’s not the Democrats’ problem now. We’ll see what happens next. Houston Public Media has more.