A supporter and former close adviser to Senator Rand Paul has been charged with hiding secret payments to secure the endorsement of an Iowa lawmaker during the 2012 presidential campaign of the senator’s father, former Representative Ron Paul, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. Jesse Benton, who was Ron Paul’s presidential campaign manager, is accused of paying more than $70,000 to Kent Sorenson, a former Iowa state senator, to win his support before the state’s caucuses in 2012. Mr. Sorenson had been backing Representative Michele Bachmann at the time but later switched to support Mr. Paul.
The charges against Mr. Benton are the latest blow to Rand Paul’s campaign, which has struggled to gain traction in the polls and has had fund-raising troubles and staff turmoil.
Mr. Benton had been tapped to run America’s Liberty, a “super PAC” that supports the younger Mr. Paul’s presidential bid. Also charged are John Tate and Dimitrios Kesari, who worked with Mr. Benton on the 2012 campaign.
The three are accused of submitting false expense reports to the Federal Election Commission. Mr. Benton is also accused of lying to the F.B.I.
“When political operatives make under-the-table payments to buy an elected official’s political support, it undermines public confidence in our entire political system,” Leslie R. Caldwell, the assistant attorney general handling the case, said in a statement announcing the charges.
The indictment said that Mr. Benton and his colleagues paid Mr. Sorenson in monthly installments of $8,000. They then concealed the payments as audiovisual campaign expenses, transferring them to a film-production company and then to another company that Mr. Sorenson controlled.
Representatives for Mr. Benton were not available for comment and the Pauls expressed disappointment that such charges would be brought the day before the first Republican presidential debate on Thursday.
“Senator Rand Paul is disappointed that the Obama Justice Department chose to release this just prior to the highly anticipated first Republican presidential debate,” a spokesman for his campaign said. “It certainly appears suspiciously timed and possibly, politically motivated.”
Ron Paul also questioned the timing of the indictment and expressed concern for his former staff members.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those involved,” he said in a statement.
Mr. Sorenson surprised the Iowa political world in late 2011 when, hours after attending a campaign event for Mrs. Bachmann, he showed up at a Ron Paul rally to offer his endorsement. He had been Mrs. Bachmann’s Iowa chairman.
