Hes accused of using Campaign Money to pay his sons student loan debt. Nbc10 news anchor renee chenaultfattah is married to the congressman. The feds allege renees car is part of a scheme to help the fattahs finance a vacation home. Renee is not indicted. The public does not expect their elected officials to misuse Campaign Funds. Misappropriate government funds, accept bribes or commit bank fraud. These type of criminal acts betray the publics trust. Hes done nothing wrong, congressman fattah was at work in washington today. A court date will be set. Harry hairston joins us now. You spoke with the congressman when these allegations began to surface. You spoke with him today, he spoke today when the charges were announced . Yes, he did come out and speak today, thats right. For the past eight years, a cloud of suspicion has followed him. Today on capitol hill congressman fattah stated neither he nor any of the others named in the indictment did anything wrong. I understand but the rico
Of 130,000 Campaign Debt so he directed a political consultant the to apply for a multiMillion Dollar federal grant. The third scheme prosecutors say relates to his son and the repayment of his student loans. Between 2007 and 2011 the political consultant the used the Campaign Funds to make loan payments on behalf of congressman fattahs son. Reporter the congressmans Philadelphia Office chief of staff bonnie becauser the head of a fattah nonprofit and a deputy mayor. Also robert brand a former of a Nonprofit Technology company and spouse of a former fattah staffer. The bribery charge they say comes from betermans 18,000 payment for the purchase of a call owned by renee chenaultfattah. The car was never sold and the couple used the money to secure a mortgage for a vacation home. It was in exchange for the congressmans efforts in obtaining a ambassadorship for beterman. Reporter this is a long complaint, some of the penalties are hefty, bribery, racketeering carry a maximum sentence of 2
Chaka fattah is not under arrest, the u. S. Attorneys office accusations against him are wide ranging. The 85 page indictment accuses misspending of taxpayer money and charitable donations. It includes allegations about a wealthy supporters secret Campaign Loan and taking a bribe from a lobbyist who wanted to be an ambassador. These are allegations that the people involved in are innocent until proven otherwise. Congressman fattah says hes done nothing wrong as he stood in the halls of congress today. Back in his home district, federal prosecutors announced racketeering, conspiracy and related charges dating back to 2007 and his failed bid for philadelphia mayor. The public expects their elected officials to act with honesty and integrity. The largest scheme involved a disguised Campaign Loan. 600,000 of which the feds alleged he repaid by funneling charitable donations and taxpayer money through a nonprofit he controlled. In scheme two, they allege he cleared a Campaign Consulting deb
This afternoon. The threat tracker shows that there is moderate threat of any kind of localized flooding or lightning. The highest threat is for highs, strong gusty winds. A severe thunderstorm watch out already. This is the line of showers back in central pennsylvania that is approaching. This is the excessive heat warning today and tomorrow. Once the line of showers comes through thats it for the dangerous heat at least for several days. 86 right now. Wilmington, dover, millville, georgetown, a lot of places in the mid 80s. The humidity is high. It already feels like its getting close to the mid 90s. Weve got at least a couple more hours of heating. Back to the north and west showers are going to come in before we get a chance to have that feels like temperature triple digits. We have a lot of rain and showers and thunderstorms. And then it comes through the area so just about everybody is going to get rain. And then everybody is going to get significant relief from the high humidity
Chaka fattah senior is facing charges. That he used Charity Funds to repay his campaign loans. Chad pradelli is live now in sent city with the full story. Reporter we knew the feds were investigating chaka fattah and today they dropped the hammer with this 85 page indictment that could put the congressman behind bars for decades. The 29 count indictment alleges chaka fattah and four other codefendants, engaged in conspiracies consisting of several schemes, including Money Laundering and bank fraud. They say that fattah borrowed a Million Dollars from a supporter and after losing he used a nonprofit he founded and controlled to pay back 600,000 of the funds. To disguise the source of these funds fattah arranging for the payments to pass through two other companies, including one run by the codefendant. That they created sham contracts and made false entries and tax returns and the congressman is accused of using Campaign Funds to repay his sons student loan debt. To hide the scheme and