PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The new president of the Providence branch of the NAACP has been charged with failing to file campaign finance reports, according to Attorney General Peter Neronha.
The criminal charges stem from Gerard Catala’s unsuccessful run for Providence City Council this past fall. The R.I. Board of Elections had referred Catala to the AG for potential prosecution last year, after investigating Catala’s campaign finance account from his 2018 run.
“This office is committed to stepping in at the request of the Board of Elections when candidates for public office blithely and repeatedly ignore the Rhode Island’s campaign finance laws,” Neronha said in a statement. “Those laws exist for many reasons, among them to provide transparency into how candidates are financing their campaigns and whether they are doing so legally.”
“Failure to file such reports, after repeated directives from the Board of Elections to file them, can lead only to one place: criminal prosecution,” Neronha continued.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
