Last summer, the House Ethics Committee issued a report purporting to whitewash the illegal conduct of Jean Schmidt in accepting what it called an "improper" gift of $498,000 from the Turkish Coalition of America. The Ethics Committee ordered Schmidt to pay back the illegal gift, and to correct her failure to report the gift three separate times on her annual financial disclosure statements filed with the House Clerk (three separate felonies).
Schmidt surely thought that the nightmare of the House Ethics Committee investigation was over.
However, since that time, two Complaints have been filed against Schmidt with the Office of Congressional Ethics, one by the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and one by David Krikorian. These Complaints allege (i) that Schmidt lied to the House Ethics Committee when she said she did not know of the illegal gift and (ii) that she refused to comply with the mandates of the House Ethics Committee in their original decision. In addition, Krikorian has filed a Complaint with the Internal Revenue Service claiming that the gifts are illegal, unreported income, and a separate Complaint with the Federal Elections Commission for having accepted an illegal campaign contribution.
So, in addition to the headache of needing to raise nearly $1/2 million to pay off her illegal gifts, Schmidt is paying attorneys to defend four separate Complaints filed against her and she continues to pursue her $6.8 million suit in Clermont County Common Pleas Court against Krikorian, a suit that will cost her more than $1 million in additional legal fees to pursue.
COAST predicts that there are other shoes still to drop in the Schmidt corruption scandal. Stay tuned for additional details.
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