On Wednesday, federal prosecutors officially dropped corruption charges against Illinois Republican Aaron Schock, who resigned from the House in disgrace back in 2015. In March, the government unexpectedly reached a deal with Schock according to which they agreed to clear him if he avoided any further legal trouble over the following six months, paid back taxes to the IRS, and reimbursed his congressional campaign committee for $68,000. Schock did not plead guilty to anything, and he’s free to run for office again.
In November 2016, about a year and a half after he resigned from Congress, Schock was indicted on 24 counts of violating federal law, including theft of government funds, filing false tax returns, charging the government for 150,000 miles he never drove, using campaign money to buy himself a 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe, and using government and campaign money to pay for private plane travel, as he did to attend a Chicago Bears game.
However, the case never went to trial. The following year, Schock’s attorney alleged that prosecutors had asked inappropriate questions about his sex life, including whether he was gay. A House attorney also said that investigators may have broken the law by instructing one of Schock’s congressional staffers, who was acting as an informant, to take materials from his district office.
The Justice Department ended up appointing a new team of prosecutors, and Schock’s trial was rescheduled for June of this year. However, there was little indication that prosecutors were looking to give Schock a deal anywhere near as favorable as the one he received in March. As part of the agreement, Schock admitted that, in addition to seeking reimbursement for miles he hadn’t driven, he’d sold tickets to events—including 46 World Series tickets and eight Super Bowl tickets—for profit, which helped him earn $42,000 that he had not reported to the IRS.
Schock didn’t seem particularly contrite after the deal was reached earlier this year, telling CBS that a “rogue prosecutor” had pursued him in a case without merit, and waving away all his misdeeds by saying he should merely have done a better job filing his paperwork. Schock also didn’t rule out running for office sometime in the future, saying, “At 37 years old, I don't think I'll ever say never.”
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