PriyaPatelTLDR:
- The president of the Providence branch of the NAACP is standing trial for alleged campaign finance violations.
- Gerard Catala is accused of failing to file campaign finance reports and owing fines totaling over $26,000.
The president of the Providence branch of the NAACP, Gerard Catala, is currently on trial for campaign finance violations. Catala is accused of failing to file campaign finance reports and owes fines totaling over $26,000. The trial began on Wednesday and is expected to conclude with closing statements on February 13. Catala did not take the stand in his own defense. The charges against Catala stem from an investigation into his campaign account, which found over $7,000 worth of unaccounted for spending during his 2018 run for City Council. Although the 2018 allegations were outside the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution, Catala was charged for failing to file campaign finance reports during his 2022 run for council. The only witness for the state was Richard E. Thornton, a Board of Elections employee, who testified that he met with Catala to discuss his deficient campaign finance reports. Despite multiple notices of noncompliance, Catala failed to file the required reports, according to Thornton.
