Los Angeles County dropped felony fees in opposition to the highest government of an elections expertise firm on Wednesday, bringing to an abrupt finish an uncommon case that turned the main target of Individuals who mistrust the nation’s electoral system.
The district lawyer’s workplace stated in a press release that it had dropped the case in opposition to the chief, Eugene Yu, due to considerations in regards to the “tempo of the investigation” and the “potential bias within the presentation” of proof within the case. The workplace stated the county had assembled a brand new staff to “decide whether or not any felony exercise occurred.”
The prosecutors didn’t reply to questions in regards to the resolution.
“Mr. Yu is an harmless man,” Gary Lincenberg, Mr. Yu’s lawyer, stated in a press release, including that “conspiracy theorists” had been utilizing the arrest to “additional their political agenda.”
Final month, Los Angeles prosecutors accused Mr. Yu, the chief government of Konnech, a small election software program firm in Michigan, of storing information about ballot employees on servers in China, a breach of the corporate’s contract with the county. The costs associated solely to ballot employee information and had no influence on votes or election outcomes.
Mr. Yu, 64, has repeatedly denied sending information to China. The New York Occasions revealed an article in regards to the claims and his denials as part of its protection of misinformation and elections. Los Angeles prosecutors arrested Mr. Yu the day after the article was revealed.
The abrupt dismissal left a number of unanswered questions in regards to the case and Mr. Yu’s suspected actions. The district lawyer’s workplace didn’t make clear whether or not the corporate had, actually, saved information in China. It was additionally not clear whether or not extra felony or civil fees could possibly be filed in opposition to Mr. Yu or Konnech from Los Angeles County or dozens of different counties that use Konnech’s election administration software program.
Konnech has about 20 staff in america and about 20 clients. It performs no position within the tabulation or counting of votes in American elections. However some election deniers have instructed that Konnech gave the Chinese language authorities a again door to control America’s election course of.
True the Vote, a corporation that claims to be dedicated to uncovering election fraud, stated at a convention this summer season that its staff had discovered and downloaded Konnech’s ballot employee information from servers in China. It offered no proof that it had downloaded the info, however stated it had delivered a tough drive to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Konnech sued True the Vote, together with Catherine Engelbrecht, its founder, and Gregg Phillips, an election denier and longtime affiliate of the group, accusing them of defamation and hacking. The pair had been briefly jailed final week after refusing to launch the title of an individual concerned within the suspected hack of Konnech’s information.
In an earlier court docket submitting, Mr. Phillips stated he had spoken with the grand jury in Los Angeles County that finally indicted Mr. Yu.
