Disgraced former GOP Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock agreed to pay a $10,000 Federal Elections Commission fine for requesting $25,000 from former Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s political action committee for another Illinois congressman’s race in 2012.
The funds were ear marked for advertisements for GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s 2012 primary race.
Under FEC regulations, elected officials are banned from asking for more than $5,000 from federal PACS.
The law firm representing Schock, McGuireWoods, told The Chicago Tribune the settlement “was reached to avoid the delay and expense of litigation.”
“It was expedient and practical for Aaron to resolve this very old matter with a mutual settlement agreement,” Mark Hubbard, a spokesman for the firm, said in the interview. Under current campaign finance law, Schock is permitted to use the $315,000 left of his campaign cash on hand.
The campaign finance violation is far from the end of the former congressman’s legal woes.
Schock stepped down from office in 2015 after questionable spending practices came to light following reports he spent $35,000 to remodel his Capitol Hill office in the fashion of PBS hit series “Downton Abbey.”
The Department of Justice launched a formal criminal investigation into his campaign and official expenses. The status of the case has not yet been made public as the jury proceedings are being kept private.
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