Reuters/Washington
Democratic US congressman Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania and four associates were charged yesterday with involvement in the misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal, charitable and campaign funds.
Fattah, 58, who has represented Philadelphia in the US House of Representatives for two decades and is one of the senior black lawmakers in Congress, and the others were indicted on 29 counts in an alleged racketeering conspiracy, the US Department of Justice said.
The charges included bribery, mail fraud, falsification of records, bank fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a financial institution and other crimes.
Fattah’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The indictment said that in Fattah’s failed 2007 campaign for mayor of Philadelphia, Fattah and certain associates borrowed $1mn from a wealthy supporter and disguised the funds as a loan to a consulting company.
The Justice Department said that after losing the election, Fattah returned $400,000 to the donor and arranged for a non-profit entity that he founded and controlled to repay the remaining $600,000 using charitable and federal grant funds that passed through two other companies.
To conceal the contribution and repayment scheme, the defendants and others created sham contracts and made false entries in accounting records, tax returns and campaign finance disclosure statements, the department said.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said the charges against Fattah were “deeply saddening” and that the congressman had a record of “distinguished service” in Congress. Pelosi said Fattah has “rightly” stepped down from his position as the top Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees Justice Department spending.
The others indicted were: lobbyist Herbert Vederman, 69, of Palm Beach, Florida; Fattah’s congressional district director, Bonnie Bowser, 59, of Philadelphia; Robert Brand, 69, of Philadelphia; and Karen Nicholas, 57, of Williamstown, New Jersey.
“I can tell you that the conduct that Congressman Fattah engaged in undermines public faith in government, undermines confidence in government, that the behaviour is something that our public does not expect their public officials to engage in,” Zane David Memeger, US attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, said at a news conference in Philadelphia.
Fattah’s son, Chaka Fattah Jr., was charged in 2014 with fraud related to loans associated with a business he ran and is awaiting trial.
Thomas Lindenfeld, a political consultant who advised Fattah, pleaded guilty in November to participating in a plan to provide illegal campaign contributions. Gregory Naylor, another aide, also pleaded guilty last year over campaign finance schemes.
Chaka Fattah
