Wealthy US political donor Ed Buck convicted in drug overdose deaths of two men
- Ed Buck supplied meth that killed two men during ‘party-and-play’ encounters at his West Hollywood flat
- The conviction could mean that Buck, 66, will spend the rest of his life in prison
A federal jury convicted a wealthy California political donor on charges he injected gay men with methamphetamine in exchange for sex, leading to two deaths and other overdoses.
Ed Buck, 66, was found guilty of all nine felony counts in federal court, which could lead to a life sentence. The verdict came exactly four years after one of the victims, 26-year-old Gemmel Moore, was found dead of an overdose in Buck’s West Hollywood flat.
“Today is bittersweet,” LaTisha Nixon, Moore’s mother, said after the verdict. “We got victory today.”
Prosecutors said Buck paid men and provided drugs in return for sex acts. Buck had pleaded not guilty. His defence lawyers said neither fatal overdose victim died from meth and that many of the alleged victims were drug addicts.
Buck’s 2019 arrest marked a turning point for activists who protested outside his flat and pressured law enforcement to act after Moore died on Buck’s floor in 2017.