LOS ANGELES -- A judge here has dismissed six of eight criminal charges against Steven A. Soto, president of the Mexican American Grocers Association here.
The charges involve Soto and four MAGA employees and stem from an earlier civil suit. That suit alleged that Soto instructed the employees to write campaign checks, for which they were reimbursed, to various state and local political candidates to circumvent limits on the amounts organizations like MAGA can legally donate.
The civil suit was settled administratively last March, with Soto and MAGA paying $38,000 to the state and $9,000 to the city without any admission of wrongdoing, Geragos told SN.
However, a grand jury here decided last May to seek criminal charges against Soto and the employees following settlement of the civil suit.