AUG. 21, 2018
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, and his wife, Margaret, were indicted Tuesday on dozens of criminal charges including wire fraud and campaign finance crimes.
The indictment, filed in federal court in San Diego, accuses the couple of converting more than $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for personal expenses and filing false campaign finance records with the Federal Election Commission to cover up the true nature of the expenses.
The 60-count indictment accuses the couple of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, falsification of records and aiding and abetting in the prohibited use of campaign contributions. Within hours of its issuance, Hunter assailed the investigation as politically motivated just weeks before the fall campaign season gets underway. House Speaker Paul Ryan nevertheless announced that Hunter had been stripped of his committee assignments.
Hunter, 41,
has been under scrutiny since April 2016, when the FEC and then The San Diego Union-Tribune began questioning expenses of campaign funds on video games, private school tuition, oral surgery and a garage door for the couple’s Alpine home. Spending of campaign funds for personal use is banned by law, to protect against undue influence by donors who might benefit from congressional actions.
By November 2017, Hunter had repaid his campaign more than $60,000 for what he identified as personal, mistaken or insufficiently documented expenditures. Under financial pressure, the congressman sold his own Alpine home and moved into the home of his father, who shares the same name and preceded him in Congress.
As a member of Congress, Hunter receives an annual salary of $174,000. Margaret Hunter, 43, was paid $3,000 a month as the congressman’s campaign manager, until April of 2017. They have two daughters and one son.
The Hunters used campaign funds for ski trips, hotel stays and European vacations, according to the indictment. They dined everywhere from Spago to Taco Bell, from Mister A’s to Wienerschnitzel.
They golfed. They bought make-up.
They paid for airline tickets for friends and relatives and invested in tequila shots and
gourmet steaks
At the same time,
the Hunters’ bank accounts were regularly overdrawn. They once used donations
to pay the household water bill after the local utility threatened to shut off service. They swiped the campaign credit card for groceries at Vons, Albertsons and Haggen..