GOP Committee: Ex-Official Stole Up To $1M

Washington Post: FBI Investigating Massive Fraud By Ex-Treasurer Of The National Republican Congressional Committee

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Paul Kane.

---

The former treasurer for the National Republican Congressional Committee diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and possibly as much as $1 million -- of the organization's funds into his personal accounts, GOP officials said yesterday, describing an alleged scheme that could become one of the largest political frauds in recent history.

For at least four years, Christopher J. Ward, who is under investigation by the FBI, allegedly used wire transfers to funnel money out of NRCC coffers and into other political committee accounts he controlled as treasurer, NRCC leaders and lawyers said in their first public statement since they turned the matter over to the FBI six weeks ago.

"The evidence we have today indicated we have been deceived and betrayed for a number of years by a highly respected and trusted individual," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the NRCC chairman.

The committee also announced that it has submitted to banks five years' worth of audits and financial documents allegedly faked by Ward, some of which were used to secure multimillion-dollar loans. It is a violation of federal laws to obtain loans through false statements; the crime is punishable by up to $1 million in fines and 30 years in prison.

Before yesterday, the committee, which raised $49 million in 2007, had not acknowledged that any money was missing. It announced on Feb. 1 that it had discovered "irregularities" that might involve fraud, dismissed Ward and called in federal investigators.

Robert K. Kelner, a lawyer with Covington & Burling, which has been hired to oversee an internal forensic audit, told reporters he is certain only that Ward had made "several hundred thousand dollars" in unauthorized money transfers since 2004. However, he said, the year-end report filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 2006 overstated the NRCC's cash on hand by $990,000.

That may be the upper level of what Ward allegedly skimmed from NRCC coffers, Kelner said. But the total will not be known until forensic auditors finish "drilling down" to determine how much money might have been misappropriated and how much may be missing as a result of sloppy bookkeeping, he said.

Kelner said Ward was the only NRCC official empowered to use wire transfers to shift money into any account without a second approval. After transferring the money into accounts he controlled, often for dormant fundraising committees associated with the NRCC, Ward allegedly moved it into accounts for his political consulting business or his personal bank accounts, Kelner said.

Kelner said the NRCC has had no contact with Ward since he was fired on Jan. 28. Ronald Machen, Ward's attorney, declined to comment on the investigation yesterday, as did the FBI.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that Ward had served as treasurer for 83 GOP committees this decade. In the past five years, the committees took in more than $400 million in contributions.

Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) told The Post this week that Ward paid himself $6,000 from King's PAC in 2007 after the congressman thought he had closed down the committee.

Politico.com reported last night that Ward lent himself more than $4,200 from the political action committee of Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), an unusual expenditure for a campaign treasurer to make. Ward repaid the money early last month, after the FBI was called in to investigate his work at the NRCC, Politico.com reported.

According to a source familiar with the investigation, some of those committees were closed down in filings to the FEC but their accounts were left open at banks. That would have allowed Ward to divert money into their coffers and then to his political consulting firm or his personal bank accounts.

Kelner said the NRCC had not met with its outside auditors for nearly five years, describing that as unusual. Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.), who previously served as chairman of the NRCC's audit committee, said he had asked to meet with the outside auditing firm, Deloitte & Touche, and that the fake audits were almost perfect forgeries.

"I sought for several years to meet with the outside auditors," Walden said. "There was always some seemingly legitimate reason why that didn't happen." The scheme began to unravel this year, when Rep. K. Michael Conaway (Tex.), the new head of the audit committee, insisted on meeting the auditors.

The magnitude of the alleged fraud staggered Republicans, who are bracing for the final accounting from the forensic audit in six to eight weeks. Many said they expect a total far greater than the minimum cited yesterday.

The largest confirmed political fraud in the modern campaign finance era, after a 1974 law set strict contribution limits, is believed to be the embezzlement of $1 million from the 1992 presidential campaign of the late Sen. Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.).

Cole told reporters yesterday evening that the NRCC has spent about $370,000 on the audit being conducted by Kelner's firm and accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers, draining precious dollars from a campaign committee that has badly trailed its Democratic counterpart in fundraising for more than a year.

Kelner said federal election and banking laws, which require proof that such frauds were done "knowingly," are likely to put the legal burden on Ward and not the NRCC. He said the internal probe so far has turned up no signs of "anybody else colluding with" Ward.

Washingtonpost.com staff writer Ben Pershing and Washington Post staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.

[socrates392]

Business as usual for the GOP-- hell, business as usual for all those *** in Washington! Is this even news worthy? I think most Americans just assume all our politicians are corrupt these days . . .

[fuzzybear9]

Hello Former Citizens Of The United States

Fuzzy what are we going to talk about today ?

What I would like to discuss is Checks and Balances
and why they failed . and why the Constitution Failed.
I think they failed simply because they were never used or implemented.
when Presidents and Senators were guilty of High Crimes and Misdemenours they were never punished.
this allowed Despots to enter the political arena
and never be forced to leave.
or if they did leave it was only by resignation,
as if Resignation was a fair prison term for High Crimes , example Richard Nixon.

The other reasons are a corrupt Judicial system,
which could find no fault in improper voting practices, but was all condeming on violating prisoners rights. examples hanging chads , and
the relocation of *** offenders into large communities among an unsuspecting citizenry.

continued

[fuzzybear9]

continued

The collapse of the United States bears many similarities to the fall of Rome.
as the despots gained power the confidence of the people wained.

The only thing that has held the United States together from the beginning, since we were so culturally and ethnically diverse, was the pride the people had in their goverment , once that was destroyed by the despots the country could not be saved and the society collapsed. being invaded
by the rabble from the south.

when did this all begin Fuzzy ?
I think a portion has always been with us throughout
history , but it reached its climax I feel,
about the time of Chapaquitic , when the Mob was used by a President for political ends. This allowed Mobocracy to be the rule of the Senate.
and the Demise of the Nation.

Sincerely your ever studious Bear
Fuzzy

[taylpatr]

So he made a bunch of money at the expense of unwitting people who trusted him. How.....republican!

[liberalvet]

My mistake...should have put the NRCC instead of the RNC.... But who cares...one NEOCON organization is just like all the others....Corrupt to the core..... again ROTFLMAO

[liberalvet]

ROTFLMAO..... A thief stealing from thieves.... Well he is only following his leaderships example.... You reap what you sow and the RNC is nothing but a band of thieves.....

Their just ain''t no honor among thieves at all....

[cyberus-2009]

Gee ... thats amazing.

When someone within a company diverts money from a corporation to themselves its a *white collar* crime called embezzlement with wrist slap penalties ....

... when its money from a republican organization its called *stealing* and *fraud*

[usbrit-2009]

To all the "Oh, poor me; they''re picking on poor defenceless Republicans again. The MSM is sssooooo biased." Didn''t it ever occur to you that while your side has 10 time the number of crooks, you''ll get 10 times the coverage? It certainly didn''t seem to me there was a liberal bias to the press while the Whitewater/Rose Law Firm/Monica investigations were ongoing. No complaints from the righty tighties then.

[lovegetpeace]

This is the same old boring story about GREED from the GOP.

[bwessels]

He was invoking executive privilege. It was a national security matter. His case is exempt from the courts. He wrote a signing statement making it all legal. Mr. Ward, your next Republican president.

[sgtrds]

Pocket change compared to the billions Bush and Cheney have stolen.

[joyous88]

typical republican, probably an evangelical as well,

want four more years of thieves?
vote for McBushcain

[neobrian-2009]

Rick,..
They`ll HAVE to start over,After " THE FALL,of the GOP"
In December,they will scratching their heads.Asking themselves " How did we let Shrub and His Culture Club of Corruption drag us ( The GOP) doWn this deep into the mire.",....But,The Fact IS,..SHRUB Destroyed EVERYTHING !

[carpriddler]

He wanted to get closer to Bush. The haves and have more.

[singingrick]

The GOP is so full of criminals and perverts, they should just scrap the party and start over.

[cfin5]

is anyone connected with politics honest??

Posted by jetlizhan at 02:04 PM : Mar 14, 2008----RON PAUL is the only one I can think of. But elections prove honesty to be unpopular these days.

[neobrian-2009]

Wish He Would Have Stolen All of Their Loot!
He represents them WELL!

[neobrian-2009]

Fox Noise MADE Him Do IT !
CBS needed to dig up this story after the Spitzer thing, we all can rely on left-wing central to deflect mitigate and marginalize all dem wrong doing by bringing these anti-republiCon stories to the forefront just in the nick of time.
------------
This GOP MORON Has the answers,...The Media Made him do it to cover Up Elliot Nesster!

Posted by notblue at 01:01 PM : Mar 14, 2008

[leftyintexas]

He only did what any good Republicon would do!