Kinde Durkee, once entrusted with the finances of major political organizations and candidates in Long Beach and beyond, was sentenced Wednesday to an eight-year prison term for embezzling over $7 million during a 12-year period.
In March, Durkee plead guilty to five counts of mail fraud after her September 2011 arrest, which resulted from an FBI investigation of a long list of irregularities related to the finances of campaigns and organizations handled by Durkee, including Rep. Laura Richardson, Mayor Bob Foster and the Long Beach Democratic Club.
Citing pending litigation, Foster’s office declined to comment, but Long Beach Democratic Club President Rex Richardson expressed regret that it came to this but satisfaction that the criminal chapter in the Kinde Durkee saga is finished.
“It’s regrettable that the Democratic Party, Long Beach Democratic Club, and countless candidates had to deal with this unfortunate situation,” he said. “I’m glad that it’s come to some resolution. I hope that other Democratic clubs and candidates were able to recover some of their assets. The Long Beach Democratic Club recovered a portion of what was lost. Fortunately, we were successful in raising enough money to participate in the two election cycles since the incident.”
Among Durkee’s other victims are Sen. Diane Feinstein, the Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee, the Orange County Democratic Party, Orange County Young Democrats and the nonprofit organization the National Popular Vote Institute. Like Foster, several of these parties have lawsuits pending against Durkee, some of which also name First California Bank as a defendant.
According to the federal criminal complaint filed at the time of her arrest, Durkee used funds from Durkee & Associates (D&A) business accounts “to pay for her daily living expenses, including food, clothes, entertainment, and mortgages. […] Ms. Durkee appears to have signature authority over more than 400 bank accounts, including those for political campaigns, and […] substantial sums of money have been routinely moved out of client campaign committees into D&A accounts or into other client campaign committee accounts.”
While Durkee’s plea agreement includes a promise to attempt to make restitution to her many victims, Durkee’s defense attorney, Daniel Nixon, admits that complete restitution will not be possible.
“Unfortunately, [Durkee’s embezzlement] spiraled out of control, [… and] it ultimately reached a level that she will be unable to pay in her lifetime,” Nixon wrote in court papers.
In March, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner referred to Durkee as “the Bernie Madoff of campaign treasurers,” saying, “This is believed to be the largest embezzlement scheme ever by a campaign treasurer.”