The Los Angeles County district attorney's office will pay $5 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by the head of a small Michigan software company that became the focus of a botched 2022 lawsuit based on large measured in the word of conspiracy theorists.
Eugene Yu, Konnech's CEO, sued the Los Angeles County district. Lawyer. George Gascón last September alleging civil rights violations and negligence stemming from an October 2022 indictment on charges that Yu was illegally storing personal information of Los Angeles County election workers overseas.
The case against Yu drew praise from former President Trump and others who questioned the results of the 2020 election. For months before the charges, Yu faced accusations that he was working for the Chinese government to manipulate American polls. The main agitators, Texas-based True The Vote, never presented evidence of his claims.
Less than six weeks after Gascón called a news conference to announce the charges against Yu, the case collapsed.
Prosecutors dismissed the charges after admitting that True The Vote co-founder Gregg Phillips provided a tip that sparked the investigation into Yu and also testified before the grand jury that produced the indictment. The group's election-related claims had been reviewed by several state attorneys general and the FBI without charges being filed, but Los Angeles County prosecutors decided to pursue the case anyway.
The district attorney's office later issued a statement saying it was concerned about the pace of the investigation and possible bias in the presentation of evidence. A spokeswoman did not elaborate on the nature or origin of the bias. The lead prosecutor, Eric Neff, was placed on administrative leave a week later.
Yu’s civil attorney, Dean Pamphilis, called the charges “completely false.”
“The resulting publicity cost Mr. Yu his life savings and Konnech cost him more than 50% of his customers,” Pamphilis said. “Sir. “Yu is very pleased that his innocence has been publicly confirmed and he and Konnech hope to begin recovering from the significant losses they suffered.”
The deal was approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday without discussion. Under the terms of the agreement, the district attorney's office will no longer press charges against Yu and will join him in a petition before a judge seeking a determination of his innocence.
Neff spoke during the Board of Supervisors meeting and questioned whether the timing of the deal was intended to affect Gascón's re-election campaign, although he offered nothing to back up that claim. Neff has not responded to The Times' requests for comment. She remains on administrative leave, according to a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity because she is not authorized to speak publicly about personnel matters.
In the lawsuit, Yu claimed that the botched charges nearly crippled his business. Election officials in large municipalities, including Detroit and Fairfax County, Virginia, cut ties with Konnech within days of Gascón's initial news conference, according to Pamphlis.
Ironically, Konnech's largest client remains Los Angeles County. In 2022, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Recorder-Recorder's office said prosecutors had never shared evidence of any misconduct. Los Angeles County has a contract to use Konnech's Poll Chief software through the 2024 presidential election.
Times staff writers Sarah D. Wire and Rebecca Ellis contributed to this report.
