Ed Buck, a wealthy political activist and Democratic donor, has been found guilty on charges that he injected gay men with methamphetamine in exchange for sex, leading to two deaths and other overdoses.

On Tuesday, a federal jury convicted of all nine felony counts, which could lead to a life sentence.

The verdict came exactly four years after one of the victims was found dead of an overdose in Buck’s West Hollywood apartment.

The jury deliberated for more than four hours after a two-week trial. Prosecutors said Buck paid men and provided drugs in return for sex acts. The 66-year-old Buck had pleaded not guilty. His defense lawyers, one of whom was a prosecutor in the OJ Simpson case, said neither fatal overdose victim died from meth and that many of the alleged victims were drug addicts.

His 2019 arrest marked a turning point for activists who had rallied outside Buck’s home and pressured police to act after Gemmel Moore, 26, fatally overdosed in Buck’s West Hollywood home in 2017.

Even after Timothy Dean, 55, died 18 months later, it took an additional nine months and the near-death of another overdose victim before Buck was arrested in September 2019.

Family members and activists had pushed for Buck’s arrest since Moore died. They said Buck escaped criminal charges for years because of wealth, political ties and race.

Buck is a wealthy white man who was active in gay causes and animal rights issues. He has given more than $500,000 to mostly Democratic politicians and causes since 2000.

Black LGBTQ+ activists in California had been advocating for years for Buck to be brought to justice, and accused police of ignoring their concerns and allowing Buck to continue hurting people.

Prosecutors say he exploited vulnerable men, most of them Black, by paying them to come to his home to use drugs and engage in sex play to satisfy a fetish. Many were destitute drug users and were involved in sex work to support their habit.

The defense contends all the men were at Buck’s apartment under their own will and that Moore and Dean did not die from methamphetamine.

“I know this has been an arduous, lengthy and difficult process,” said US district judge Christine A Snyder to jurors after she read the verdict, according to the Los Angeles Times.