Sheriff DAVID SHOAR, are you next?
Aaron Schock, the former Republican representative from Illinois whose taste for first-class travel and a “Downton Abbey”-themed office design led to questions about his judgment and adherence to spending rules, was indicted on Thursday by a federal grand jury on 24 counts, including wire fraud and theft of government funds.
The indictment came after his lawyer, George J. Terwilliger III, said in a statement that the charges were expected and described them as a “misuse” of prosecutorial power by the Justice Department.
“This indictment will look bad, but underneath it is just made-up allegations of criminal activity arising from unintentional administrative errors,” Mr. Terwilliger said in an email. “These charges are the culmination of an effort to find something, anything, to take down Aaron Schock.”
Mr. Schock, who resigned his House seat in March 2015 amid a government inquiry, said in the statement, “I intend to not only prove these allegations false, but in the process, expose this investigation for what it was.”
“Neither I nor anyone else intentionally did anything wrong,” he added. “As I have said before, we might have made errors among a few of the thousands and thousands of financial transactions we conducted, but they were honest mistakes — no one intended to break any law.”
Mr. Schock was 27 years old when he began serving in Congress in January 2009. He became known for populating his Instagram accountwith adventurous photographs, showing him toting a rifle at West Point, surfing or glacier jumping in Patagonia.
Ethics questions arose after The Washington Post reported on his opulent Capitol Hill office in February 2015, which prompted a government investigation into whether he had improperly accepted pro bono interior design services. Mr. Schock personally paid back $40,000 for office renovations, which included blood-red walls, a crystal chandelier and a plume of pheasant feathers.
A New York Times article last year described the office as being decorated like a drawing room from “Downton Abbey,” and said that with his “buff physique and natty wardrobe,” Mr. Schock had cultivated an image that was more about lifestyle and less about lawmaking.
Mr. Schock, now 35, resigned amid questions about his financial practices, including accusations of spending tens of thousands of dollars from taxpayer-funded accounts on office renovations, using taxpayer and campaign funds on private jets and concerts, and failing to report extravagant gifts on his annual financial disclosure forms as required by House ethics rules.
In addition to the wire fraud and theft of government funds charges, Mr. Schock was charged with making false statements, filing false federal income tax returns, falsification of Federal Election Commission filings and mail fraud.
The statement from his lawyer said that Mr. Schock had never “seen ‘Downton Abbey’ and did not request an office designed like it.”
It also said that he had repaid “every penny of taxpayer-funded mileage he ever received despite the fact that he indisputably drove tens of thousands of miles throughout his district on official business, one of the largest congressional districts in Illinois.”
No comments:
Post a Comment