A Catonsville technology executive whose super PAC was disavowed by Donald Trumps campaign during the 2016 election season for offering a chance to win dinner with the candidate was sentenced Thursday to a year of probation.
Ian Richard Hawes, who co-founded and serves as a managing partner for immitranslate, will serve the first nine months of his supervised release on home detention. His single charge, failing to file a 2016 tax return, did not stem directly from the super PAC that raised $1.1 million in donations that year, though federal prosecutors discussed the scheme at length in court filings.
In sentencing filings, prosecutors wrote that Hawes, then a software engineer from Catonsville, had told friends the Dinner with Trump scheme led to the candidates supporters being trolled for a cool mil. Hawes worked as a consultant and started the dinnerwithtrump.org website as well as the corresponding super PAC, American Horizons, in late 2015, offering potential donors the opportunity to double their chances of winning a dinner with the host of The Apprentice if they donated to the organization.
Trumps campaign disavowed the super PAC in 2016 and issued it a cease-and-desist letter, saying the organization was offering a prize it could not deliver.
About $400,000 of the super PACs funds went toward advertising on Facebook, another $350,000 was used by Hawes for personal expenditures, such as an engagement ring and a wedding, federal prosecutors wrote, also noting the entity did not ultimately contribute to any campaign. Super PACs can raise unlimited amounts of money, but are not permitted to donate to or work directly with a candidates campaign.
Hawes said in an email to The Baltimore Sun that he no longer works in political consulting and that he has moved on with his life.
Hawes attorneys noted in sentencing filings that the scheme was not directly tied to the single charge he pleaded guilty to in May, which accused him of failing to file his 2016 tax return. In a letter to U.S. District Judge George Levi Russell III, Hawes said the return was filed when he became aware of the charges in early 2023. He paid restitution in the amount due, more than $110,000, to the IRS, though a balance of penalties remains.
The emotional and mental toll that this incident has had on me and my family is significant, and I assure you it is a lesson I will carry with me for the rest of my life, Hawes wrote in the letter to the judge, where he did not address the super PAC.
He wrote that the poor decision to not file his taxes came in October of 2017, at a time when he was unemployed and facing reputational risk issues that left me withdrawn and disillusioned with my career path.
In the letter, he said he co-founded immitranslate, a translation technology company aiming to assist those navigating the immigration process. Hawes co-founded the company in 2013 before the translation technology was sold and temporarily ceased operations, though Hawes restarted the business in 2017.
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