Case Background During a meeting in a restaurant, Dougherty accepted $10,000 cash in $100 denominations that the cooperating witness delivered in a takeout coffee cup, the OAG said. Dougherty later returned the cash and asked the cooperating witness to send four checks — each within the $2,600 individual-donor limit, authorities said. They met in the same restaurant, where Dougherty accepted four checks from "straw donors" — people reimbursed to write checks to each defendant's campaign — the OAG said. New Jersey's attorney general claims Dougherty and the cooperating witness met in the same restaurant for the transaction and had the following exchange: CW: "These are my straws… so I just need your support for my reappointment. Don't forget me."