Attorney Pierce O'Donnell was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on Thursday on charges of funneling $26,000 in contributions to the campaign of a candidate in the 2004 presidential election through employees of his law firm and other people, according to the indictment.
O'Donnell, 61, is accused of soliciting employees and others to make the contributions and then reimbursing them.
Known as "conduit" contributions, such donations hide the identities of the true contributors and violate federal law, prosecutors said.
Though the name of the presidential candidate does not appear in the indictment, several sources familiar with the investigation said the contributions were made to the campaign of Democrat John Edwards.
