Rep. Rangel Charged with 13 Ethics Violations

After rejecting a plea deal that would have let him avoid facing public trial, Representative Charles Rangel (D – NY) has been charged with 13 separate ethics violations by the House Ethics Committee, the culmination of a years-long investigation into the conduct of the veteran congressman.

Many of the charges are connected to Rangel attempting to establish a Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service, including soliciting donations with congressional letterhead, exchanging political favors for donations. The ethic panel also said that there are numerous errors and omissions on his personal financial disclosure forms, including income from renting out a Manhattan brownstone, vacant lots in New Jersey and a villa in the Dominican Republic. He is further accused of failing to report several transactions in his retirement accounts. He has also been accused of improperly renting four apartments in Harlem at well below market value. Rangel has denied that his misused his office and that whatever rules that were broken was the result of honest mistakes.

Rangel had been the subject of a two year long investigation into possible ethics violations, an inquiry that had cost him his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee even before it was ultimately concluded last week that the charges against him had merit. He is scheduled to face trial by a panel subcommittee in September.