NY Republican Congressman, and former FBI agent (ironically), Michael Grimm – who became infamous for threatening an NY1 reporter "I'll throw you off the fucking balcony… I'll break you in half" – has been indicted on campaign finance charges as well as mail, wire, and healthcare fraud. Oh and since he seemed such a trustworthy and honest chap after his apology for the prevous threats, he is also being charged with perjury after lying about all the other shit he did… Welcome to American politics… As AP reports, he has pleaded not guilty to the 20-count federal indictment.
He’s charged with engaging in schemes to underreport wages for restaurant workers, including some who were in the country illegally. He’s accused of concealing more than $1 million in sales and wages.
“As a former FBI agent, Rep. Grimm should understand the motto: fidelity, bravery, and integrity. Yet he broke our credo at nearly every turn,” FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said in a statement. “In this 20-count indictment, Rep. Grimm lived by a new motto: fraud, perjury, and obstruction.”
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The alleged fraud occurred from 2007 to 2010 when authorities said Grimm was one of the owners and the managing member of an Upper East Side fast food restaurant called Healthalicious and oversaw the day-to-day operations of the restaurant.
Prosecutors said during that time, Grimm filed false state and federal tax returns to underreport over a $1 million in sales and wages by concealing gross receipts for cash purchases and paid workers hundreds of thousands of dollars off the books.
“Healthalicious was a small business and it sold casual food so many people used cash and it was this cash that Michael Grimm exploited making over a $1 million simply disappear,” Lynch said. “Grimm took the cash from the register, used part of it to pay the workers off the books, never reporting it to the taxing authorities.”
When it came to this restaurant, Michael Grimm never met a tax he didn’t lie to evade,” Lynch added.
Authorities also say that when he was deposed by an attorney representing former employees in a lawsuit, Grimm lied under oath about his allegedly fraudulent business practices.
“Rep. Grimm billed himself as a patriot and an American hero,” Venizelos said. “But Rep. Grimm was anything but an upstanding citizen. He cheated, evaded and then lied.”
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1m1eokV Tyler Durden