ILLINOIS: Totally Not-Gay GOP Former Rep. Aaron Schock Indicted By Feds On 24 Criminal Counts

The Chicago Tribune reports:

An attorney for former Peoria Congressman Aaron Schock said a federal indictment against his client is expected Thursday. Schock, 35, resigned from Congress on March 31, 2015, amid a federal criminal probe into how he spent campaign dollars and his $1 million-plus annual office budget.

On the same day, he was served with a subpoena outside his Peoria home by three federal agents. The subpoena told him to appear before the grand jury and turn over large number of records from the previous five years

In a statement, Schock attorney George Terwilliger gave no details on the indictment. “The indictment will look bad,” Terwilliger said in the statement. But he went on to accuse federal prosecutors of “made-up allegations of criminal activities arising from unintentional administrative errors.

“These charges are the culmination of an effort to find something, anything, to take down Aaron Schock,” Terwilliger said. The spending scandal that led to Schock’s downfall began with what might have been a tempest in a teapot: He had his congressional office redecorated with a “Downton Abbey” motif.

An Illinois designer was paid for the work, but one of Schock’s aides tried to cover up the payment. Soon the press began detailing the lawmaker’s far-flung trips, heavy reliance on private aircraft and habit of overbilling the government for auto mileage.

UPDATE: Also from the Tribune.



Former Congressman Aaron Schock was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Illinois on 24 criminal counts including theft of government funds, fraud, making false statements and filing false tax returns.

Schock, 35, a Republican from Peoria elected in 2008, resigned from the House of Representatives last year amid a federal criminal investigation. Several of the counts against him have maximum penalties of 20 years in prison. He is to appear in court in coming days.

Schock, a fitness buff, was a colorful figure on Capitol Hill and drew attention for displaying his “six-pack” abs on a magazine cover. He used social media heavily, boasting of global travel. While still in office, he was seen doing the tango and jumping on a glacier in South America.

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