Aaron Schock, who resigned from his Illinois congressional seat last year amid scrutiny of his spending, expects to be indicted by a federal grand jury, his defense team said Thursday.
Schock’s attorney, George Terwilliger, called the expected charges 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,” Terwilliger said in a statement. “These charges are the culmination of an effort to find something, anything, to take down Aaron Schock.”
Expect charges to be announced later today.
Former U.S. Representative Aaron Schock Indicted for Fraud, Theft
of Government Funds, False Statements and Filing False Income Tax Returns
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging former U.S. Representative Aaron Schock with allegedly defrauding the federal government and his campaign committees and covering it up with false and fraudulent statements, claims and invoices.
“I appreciate the time and attention that the grand juries have given this matter, to thoroughly review the facts and the evidence and to reach this decision,” said U.S. Attorney Jim Lewis, Central District of Illinois. “These charges allege that Mr. Schock deliberately and repeatedly violated federal law, to his personal and financial advantage. Mr. Schock held public office at the time of the alleged offenses, but public office does not exempt him or anyone else from accountability for alleged intentional misuse of public funds and campaign funds.”
According to allegations in the 24-count indictment, from as early as 2008, and continuing to at least October 2015, Schock, 35, of Peoria, engaged in a scheme to defraud the government, his campaign committees, and others for his direct personal benefit and for the benefit of others. Schock allegedly repeatedly submitted and caused false and fraudulent claims, invoices, and vouchers to be submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives (House) for payment from his Member’s Representational Allowance and from funds of his campaign committees: Schock for Congress (SFC); Schock Victory Committee (SVC); and GOP Generation Y Fund (Gen Y).
Schock allegedly generated income to himself, which resulted in a loss of more than $100,000 to the government, Schock’s campaign committees, and others. In addition, Schock is charged with filing false federal income tax returns for tax years 2010 through 2015, for failure to report additional income he received.
Several of the alleged instances of fraud from the indictment are summarized below:
Ø From as early as 2008 and continuing to about October 2014, Schock received total mileage payments from the House and his campaign committees of approximately $138,663, for official and campaign-related travel. Assuming all of the miles driven on Schock’s vehicles were official and campaign-related, and no personal miles were driven during this time period, Schock allegedly caused the House and his campaign committees to reimburse him for approximately 150,000 miles more than the vehicles were actually driven.
Ø In July 2014, Schock caused Schock for Congress to purchase a new 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe for him at a total cost of $73,896. Schock then caused the Tahoe to be titled in his name. To accomplish the purchase, Schock caused SFC to purchase his used 2010 Tahoe from him for $31,621. He then caused SFC to trade in the 2010 Tahoe with a $26,000 used car or trade-in allowance, and wrote a SFC check to the dealership for $73,896, thus causing a loss to SFC. As part of the scheme, and to conceal and cover it up, Schock allegedly caused SFC to file a false report with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that the entire $73,896 payment was for a transportation expense of SFC rather than the purchase of a vehicle for Schock’s exclusive use. Schock allegedly made no effort to reimburse SFC for his personal use of the 2015 Tahoe.
Ø Schock allegedly caused the House to fraudulently reimburse him $29,021 for his September 2014 purchase of camera equipment. The equipment was for his use and the use of a congressional and campaign staff member who was also his personal photographer and videographer. In November 2014, Schock allegedly instructed the staff member to create and submit a false invoice for ‘multimedia services’ to Schock’s congressional office. After various changes to the invoice, it was submitted to the House, which authorized payment of $29,021 to the staff member. The funds were deposited in the staff member’s bank account and were later used by the staff member to make direct payments to Schock’s personal credit card account for the camera equipment purchase.
Ø In late 2013, Schock allegedly accused a former staffer of inappropriately accessing a friend’s social media account and falsely advised the former staffer that the FBI and Capitol Police were investigating the matter. As a result of Schock’s accusation and false representation, the former staffer retained a lawyer and incurred legal fees of more than $10,000, which were paid by the former staffer’s father. Schock later acknowledged that his allegation of a law enforcement investigation of the matter was false and after being confronted by the former staffer’s father, agreed to reimburse the former staffer’s father for $7,500 of the legal fees. In February 2014, Schock allegedly wrote a check for $7,500 payable to the former staffer’s father. In April 2014, Schock had his political director issue a check from Gen Y to him in the amount of $7,500, which was falsely reported to the FEC as payment to a Washington D.C. attorney for legal fees incurred by Gen Y. In addition, Schock allegedly caused Gen Y to pay legal expenses that he personally incurred, and to file additional false reports with the FEC that the payment was for Gen Y’s legal fees.
Ø In November 2014, Schock hired an Illinois decorator, who in 2010 had decorated Schock’s Peoria apartment and Cannon congressional office, to redecorate and provide furnishings for his Rayburn congressional office at a cost of approximately $40,000, including a $5,000 chandelier. Schock allegedly caused vouchers and claims to be submitted to the House totaling $25,000 to be paid to the decorator. In the submission of the vouchers and claims, Schock allegedly made false representations that the claims were, “for services to assist the member in setting up our district and DC offices” and, “includes using materials from our district and rearranging/designing/structuring the space to best suit the member and staff’s needs.” In addition, Schock caused his three campaign committees to pay a total of approximately $8,263 in additional costs for carpentry, paint, and travel and lodging expenses for the decorator/designer, who provided no product or service to these committees.
A summons will be issued to Schock by the U.S. Clerk of the Court for a date when Schock is to appear in federal court in Springfield for initial appearance and arraignment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Hansen are prosecuting the case on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois. The charges are being investigated by the FBI, Springfield Division; IRS Criminal Investigations; U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Chicago Division; FDIC Office of Inspector General; and the Illinois State Police. These agencies participate in the Central District of Illinois’ U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Public Corruption Task Force.
U.S. Attorney Lewis thanked the investigative agencies and commended their respective agents who he said, “have worked long, hard and well to present this matter fairly.”
Members of the public are reminded that an indictment is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
If convicted, the maximum statutory penalty for each offense charged is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as sentencing is determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The table below lists the counts charged in the indictment and the maximum statutory penalty for each respective charge.
- Hmm - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:05 pm:
Terwilleger!
- Dan Johnson - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:06 pm:
That’s disappointing. Seems like prosecutorial overreach at first blush. I hope it doesn’t happen.
- Romeo - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:20 pm:
That’s what you get for decorating your office like Downton Abbey. The gub’mint just throws the book at you.
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:36 pm:
He has been spotted at a few public events…maybe they wanted to slow down a future comeback bid?
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:48 pm:
===According to allegations in the 24-count indictment… ===
This isn’t just “finishing off an investigation”…
It’s real now, and it’s real serious.
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:53 pm:
Wow. 24 indictments. Just wow.
- Anon221 - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:56 pm:
Wow… just, wow!
- JS Mill - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:56 pm:
=Seems like prosecutorial overreach at first blush.=
Actually, it looks like a slew of serious fraud.
- Anon221 - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:56 pm:
sorry for the jinx Ducky:)
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 1:58 pm:
24 counts, ouch. In my professional experience, you can get a few Not Guiltys, but 24 is a big ask for a defense.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:03 pm:
At first blush, it looks like he wanted to live larger than he already was on someone else’s dime. See JJJ.
Always boggles the mind: safe Congressional seat, no heavy lifting, pick your issues, work as little as you want, loads of staff, travel the world on the gubmint dime, free lunch and dinner all over, plus sweet pay, perks, health insurance and a pension.
If you want, you cash out and make big money as a lobbyist.
And you risk prison cause it ain’t enough.
- AlfondoGonz - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:03 pm:
If he decorated his office like Downtown Abby, should we expect him to decorate his cell like Wadsworth Prison?
- anonymous - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:04 pm:
Where is Rep. Bobby Rush’s indictment?
- illinoised - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:12 pm:
But he had nice abs.
- Nearly Normal - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:14 pm:
Could not get the file to download. Anybody else have trouble?
- Highland IL - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:15 pm:
If this is true, looks like he was doing it since day one.
- Team Sleep - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:16 pm:
Word - you are 100% correct. And really there are pretty lax spending rules on federal campaign accounts to begin with so there really is no excuse.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:17 pm:
When you live in a perks bubble that is provided to you because of the political job you have, you eventually begin to lose your moral compass. As a young man, Schock did what other young men often do - he took ridiculous risks.
Our politicians decide where billions of dollars are spent. They spend millions every other year to be elected. They are courted by the very rich. There comes a point when all that money creates it’s own fake bubble of un-reality.
You get to a point where you can have a couple million, but think of yourself as “dead broke”.
Corruption is contagious in a political world.
- Payback - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:18 pm:
Which of these counts could be considered wire fraud? Any lawyers around here?
- Anon - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:20 pm:
The fall from grace was almost as fast as the rise to fame.
- Jocko - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:22 pm:
George Terwilliger is paraphrasing Curly Howard by saying “Schock is a victim of circumstance”.
- illini - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:23 pm:
24 counts in an indictment is not prosecutorial overreach and given just the 5 instances cited in this post, if they are representative of the entire case, this is very serious.
Living large is one thing, but fraud involving public funds and accounts and income tax charges, are hard, if not impossible, for responsible investigators and prosecutors to ignore.
- Last Bull Moose - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:23 pm:
To this non-lawyer, these are serious charges. The bullying the staffer incident will really hurt with the jury. It adds something other than money to the story.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:24 pm:
===People died on her watch in Benghazi===
Please don’t. Just don’t.
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:24 pm:
I cannot believe people are still bringing up Benghazi.
You guys can’t even win gracefully.
- Sense of a Goose - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:27 pm:
Living large off campaign funds is tax fraud and they’ll get you for that every time you’re smart enough to get your picture plastered all over while doing it. Besides that, it ticks off your donors.
- AlfondoGonz - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:35 pm:
Behind the Scenes
The United State’s Attorney is always hiring if you’re so gifted a prosecutor as to be able to make such determinations from your armchair.
- Amalia - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:36 pm:
24 counts is lots, but his arrogance that appears in photos is telling.
as for those bringing up Benghazi again, nothing there, actually nothing there illegally for any of the phony investigations through the years—or she would have been charged. anything that happens after Trump becomes president will simply be trumped up and fake and banana republic not justice.
- Former IL Resident - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:37 pm:
This is the US Attorney looking into the allegations against Frank Mautino, correct?
- Commonsense in Illinois - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:55 pm:
His attorney says they’re made up and are nothing more than “administrative errors”? Really? So, buying a $73,000 Tahoe and cooking the transaction was an “administrative error”? Wait a minute…who the hell buys a Tahoe for $73,000 except maybe the Secret Service?
- Steve Rogers - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 2:55 pm:
“unintentional administrative errors.” At what point, Mr. Terwilliger, do a few paperwork goofs become systemic patterns of fraud and cover up? I get it that he’s innocent until proven guilty, but the government wouldn’t have issued an indictment if they didn’t think they could win a high-profile case like this.
- jim - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 3:03 pm:
read the indictment. it looks really bad. he’ll have a tough time explaining these transactions. pretty hard to palm it off a administrative errors.
- Bigtwich - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 3:08 pm:
A friend who did a lot of criminal work explained it to me once. State prosecutors file charges and go to court to prove them. Feds prove charges and go to court to file them.
- archpundit - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 3:16 pm:
Overreach would be if there was one violation and 5 or 6 false statements added to it. This is the reverse with just two charges of false statements. The tax and FEC filing charges are very serious.
He’s probably got 5 years in actual prison there and then longer on parole/probation. Maybe more and the experienced lawyers can correct me, but this isn’t overreach–he really screwed up.
Having had a friend go to federal prison for less, I actually feel for Aaron now. I always found him somewhat insufferable, but he’s going to pay for his actions and it will be hard. I wish him the best. That doesn’t mean I want him to go free, but paying a price is a hard thing to do and he’s going to have do it.
- Conn Smythe - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 3:32 pm:
At the beginning of all this, everyone wondered who Schock upset to unleash this stuff. Looks like we got our answer: that falsely accused employee.
- Huh? - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 3:34 pm:
Dear Aaron
The G has the goods on you. Strongly recommend that you make a plea deal, do your time, get out of jail and go on the talk circuit.
Sincerely,
You’re Toast
- wordslinger - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 3:41 pm:
Conn, you might be right. Reading the indictment, the allegations are he leaned on a lot of people to do his dirty work, and all they were getting for it was risk.
Geez, who came up with these short-money screwball schemes with the paper trails and small-fry to flip? They’re a prosecutor’s dream.
- NoGifts - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 3:42 pm:
I’ll say it again. Everyone needs a person on their staff who will tell you honestly when you are doing things you shouldn’t and will regret them.
- Loop Lady - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 3:49 pm:
Somewhere, Ricca Slone is smiling…she obviously was right about him…
- d.p.gumby - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 4:03 pm:
Seems qualified for a post in the new administration.
- Railrat - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 4:15 pm:
Illinois is continuing as an international laughing stock of political abuse not that any of you care but I have friends in Africa New Zealand Australia Ireland &Scotland that get great folly of watching Illinois / Chicago politics. I’m sure political science professors are giddy over that last 4 days and the continuation of Illinois insanity.
- flea - Thursday, Nov 10, 16 @ 4:18 pm:
He’ll have lot’s of time to devote to his physique while lifting weights in the “yard”