Lexington Herald-Leader: Grand jury brings fresh scrutiny to Alison Grimes' campaigns

Larry Noble, a former general counsel for the FEC, now holds the same job at the Campaign Legal Center, another campaign-finance watchdog. Noble said he agreed with Holman’s assessment. If a federal grand jury is investigating Grimes’ campaign, it’s likely the U.S. Department of Justice opened a case based on its own information, not on an FEC referral, Noble said.

“I will say, it’s pretty unusual for the Department of Justice to look at something like this. Ordinarily they would leave it up to the Federal Election Commission,” Noble said. “The only way Justice would get involved is if it’s a knowing and willful violation of the law, not some inadvertent mistake.”

“And even then, the Department of Justice doesn’t usually get involved unless we’re talking about a large sum of money, something more than $200,000 or $300,000,” he added.