Two top allies of presidential candidate and US Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) were charged with violating campaign finance laws during the 2012 presidential campaign, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Jesse Benton, who worked on the presidential bid of Paul's father, Ron, was named as one of three political operatives in the alleged scheme to conceal payments to an Iowa state senator.

According to a National Journal report last April, Benton was tapped to run a Paul-sanctioned super PAC, America's Liberty PAC, supporting the senator's 2016 presidential bid.

John Tate, who is listed as the group's founder and president, was also named in the charges. The other operative named was Dimitrios Kesari, a former deputy campaign manager on Ron Paul's campaign.

The indictment was based on six counts, including conspiracy, filing false records, false statements, and obstruction of justice.

Though the indictment did not name which 2012 presidential candidate Benton, Tate, and Kesari worked on, there is little doubt that it is referring to former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Rand Paul's father.

Benton resigned as Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Kentucky) reelection campaign manager last year amid new revelations from the investigation. Former Iowa State Sen. Kent Sorenson (R) pleaded guilty to two federal charges last year and admitted that he had accepted payments from the campaigns of Ron Paul and former US Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) to secure his endorsement, according to The Washington Post.

The Justice Department accused the operatives of covering up more than $70,000 in payments to Sorenson, who they allege "negotiated with the defendants to switch his support to" Ron Paul in 2012.

At the time, according to The Post, he said, "inaccurate press accounts and unsubstantiated media rumors about me and my role in past campaigns that are politically motivated, unfair and, most importantly, untrue."

Benton and Liberty PAC did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. However, both Pauls issued statements decrying the indictment's timing as suspicious given that Thursday will feature the first Republican debate.

"Senator Rand Paul is disappointed that the Obama Justice Department chose to release this just prior to the highly anticipated first Republican presidential debate; it certainly appears suspiciously timed and possibly, politically motivated," a Rand Paul spokesman said. "Additionally, these actions are from 2012 and have nothing to do with our campaign."

View the indictment below:

