By Frank Fang
A Chinese national allegedly stole around $162,000 in taxpayer money to fund his 2024 campaign for New York state Assembly by defrauding the state’s public campaign matching funds program, federal prosecutors announced on June 13.
Yin Dao, 62, a resident of Queens, New York, was charged with wire fraud, according to a federal complaint, which was unsealed on Friday. He finished third with 5.9 percent of the vote, or 185 ballots, in the Democratic primary for Assembly District 40 on June 25, 2024.
“Through lies and deceit, the defendant allegedly stole over $160,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund his campaign for elected office,” Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, said in a statement.
“Fraud and public corruption threaten the integrity of our elections and will not be tolerated. The Criminal Division remains committed to aggressively prosecuting frauds that undermine U.S. interests and waste public funds.”
According to data released by New York’s Public Campaign Finance Board (PCFB), Yin received $162,800 in taxpayer money for his Assembly bid. The figure was among the largest amounts awarded to an Assembly candidate under the Public Campaign Financing Program in the 2024 race. The program is designed to encourage people to participate in the democratic process by matching small political contributions with public funds.
A candidate must fulfill certain requirements to qualify for matching funds, such as submitting contribution cards to the PCFB, each containing the contributor’s residential address, signature, and contribution amount, among other information.
According to the criminal complaint, Yin, who became a U.S. citizen in 2012, is accused of submitting more than 200 cards to the PCFB between June 2023 and March 2024, and “many” of those cards were “fraudulent.”
The PCFB asked Yin to provide additional information on the purported contributors and advised him to send “letters of good faith” to request the information, the complaint said.
The board then accepted Yin’s claim that he had mailed them to these contributors and concluded that its request for additional information had been met.
The PCFB subsequently disbursed matching funds to Yin’s authorized committee, which he had established as one of the requirements for qualifying for public funds.
However, some of the alleged contributors whom Yin mentioned to the PCFB did not recall receiving the letters, according to the complaint.
The FBI interviewed several individuals regarding Yin’s alleged scheme.
“These persons reported to the FBI that they never contributed to YIN’s campaign, never signed a contribution card for his campaign and, in some cases, never heard of YIN,” the complaint states.
In October 2024, the FBI conducted a court-authorized search of Yin’s residence.
“As alleged, the defendant, a former candidate for public office, submitted forged campaign contribution cards from members of the very community he hoped to represent, to fraudulently obtain thousands of dollars in public matching funds that he was not entitled to receive,” Joseph Nocella, Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, stated in a statement.
“Today’s arrest demonstrates that this Office will protect the integrity of elections and pursue candidates for elected office who violate campaign finance laws.”
According to prosecutors, Yin could face up to the maximum prison sentence of 20 years if convicted.
The PCFB used a “tiered formula” to calculate the amount of matching funds awarded for eligible contributions, according to the complaint. Under the system, the matching funds could, in some cases, exceed the original contribution. For instance, a $250 donation could result in up to $2,300 in matching funds.
In 2024, the maximum amount that an Assembly candidate could receive in matching funds was $175,000 for a primary election and $175,000 for a general election, according to the PCFB’s website.
In June 2020, Yin finished fifth with 4.7 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary election for Queens Borough President. Unable to secure the Democrats’ nomination, Yin ran as the Red Dragon Party candidate in the Queens Borough President’s general election in November 2020, finishing third with 2.3 percent of the votes.
The Epoch Times contacted Yin for comment and did not receive a response by publication time.
