Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens indicted — again. He’s accused of stealing charity donor list for campaign

Will Schmitt | Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader

Show Caption Hide Caption Hawley says Greitens may have committed another felony In a Tuesday press conference, Attorney General Josh Hawley says Gov. Eric Greitens' allegedly committed computer tampering regarding a list of donors to The Mission Continues, the pro-veterans charity the governor founded.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted Friday on suspicion of stealing an electronic list of donors to the pro-veterans charity he founded in order to raise money for his political career, prosecutors say.

The new charge against the Republican governor comes at the tail end of the three-year statute of limitations, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said in a news release.

According to a probable cause statement, Greitens instructed the April 22, 2015, disclosure of a donor list owned by the Mission Continues, a nonprofit Greitens founded, without the charity's permission.

The charge of computer tampering is the second felony Greitens faces. He was indicted Feb. 22 in a separate case for allegedly photographing a partially nude woman without her consent and making the image accessible by computer.

Greitens responded to the latest charge by reiterating criticism of Gardner's handling of his first felony charge.

"Her original case is falling apart — so today, she’s brought a new one," Greitens wrote in a Facebook post. "By now, everyone knows what this is: this prosecutor will use any charge she can to smear me.

In a separate statement, Greitens' attorney Ed Dowd said the computer tampering charge "makes no sense at all" and called his client's early charity work — when he forewent a salary from the organization — "an extraordinary act of public service."

Gardner, a Democrat, is prosecuting both cases. Greitens, a Republican, has accused Gardner of liberal bias and has characterized efforts to investigate his actions as politically motivated.

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State Attorney General Josh Hawley announced Tuesday that he had evidence showing criminal wrongdoing by Greitens and had provided his findings to Gardner and a committee of lawmakers investigating Greitens.

The legislative panel investigating Greitens' first indictment released an initial report this month that included sworn testimony from a woman with whom Greitens had an affair in 2015. The woman alleged that Greitens slapped her in the face and coerced her into oral sex in his basement.

Greitens has denied criminal wrongdoing and has said he will be vindicated after his May trial.

The Mission Continues is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization Greitens, a former Navy SEAL, founded in 2007. The organization's mission is to help veterans rejoin civilian society after military service.

Greitens served as the nonprofit's CEO for several years before resigning Jan. 1, 2014. Over the same time period, he formed other companies to handle his motivational speaking and book-writing business.

There was a formal agreement between the Mission Continues and one of these companies, the Greitens Group, according to charity documents.

"Although Greitens Group employees may volunteer for (the Mission Continues), at no point is any organization staff member or intern permitted to assist with any Greitens Group activities," according to nonprofit reports.

The Greitens Group reimbursed the Mission Continues about $8,000 per year for costs including rent, phone and internet services, "as well as a percentage of the CEO and Executive Assistant's monthly benefit expense," according to charity documents.

The Associated Press reported in October 2016 that Greitens’ gubernatorial campaign had a list of people who donated $1,000 to the Mission Continues.

"No, we were not working off of a Mission Continues donor list," Greitens told the AP, which reported his comment in a story alongside the fact that 85% of the money he received in his first two months of campaigning was contributed by donors to the Mission Continues.

The Missouri Ethics Commission later determined Greitens' campaign received the list and used it for fundraising purposes. Greitens' campaign paid a fine and reported the list as a $600 contribution from a former campaign worker, leaving unexplained how the campaign worker obtained the list.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in late February that a Greitens Group employee who also previously worked for the charity emailed the list — created in 2014 — to two Greitens campaign workers in January 2015.

The charity has denied giving donor information to Greitens. If the Mission Continues got involved with his political career in that way, it could endanger its tax-exempt nonprofit status.