Chief of staff to former Rep. Weldon (R-Pa.) charged in corruption probe

[babylonsister]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/04/chief-of-staff-to-former-rep-weldon-charged-in-corruption-probe/

Chief of staff to former Rep. Weldon charged in corruption probe

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The one-time chief of staff to then-Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., has been charged in a criminal conspiracy for failing to disclose income his wife made for doing "little work" at a firm with connections to Weldon's family.

Russell Caso Jr. is charged with a single conspiracy count in a criminal "information," which normally signals a plea agreement and a promise to cooperate with a continuing investigation. Justice Department officials said Caso will appear in court Friday morning.

Documents from U.S. District Court in Washington did not name Weldon nor the firm, which were referred to as "Representative A" and "Firm A."

The documents said Caso's wife received $19,000 from a "non-profit consulting firm" designed to help "American businesses to operate in Russia and facilitating the flow of trade between the United States and Russia."

"Caso's wife received $1,500 of this money for editing drafts of Proposal A and Proposal B. Caso's wife performed little work for the remaining $17,500," the court document said.

Weldon had pressed high-level officials in the State Department, Energy Department and National Security Council that "Firm A" should be federally funded, the documents say.

Caso was Weldon's chief of staff in 2005 and 2006. Weldon was defeated in his re-election bid in 2006.

Prosecutors from the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, which investigates sensitive public corruption cases, brought the charge.

[DCKit]

1. I was going to say this sounds incredibly petty...

then I noted that Rep. Weldon lobbied heavily to turn it into a total cash cow.

[babylonsister]

2. It begs the question of who else might be involved, too, if the probe

is ongoing. I agree it sounded petty, but wondered why CNN was interested enough to report it.