DOIN’ TIME

Former Rep. Steve Stockman Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

For defrauding donors and laundering the money before spending it on personal and campaign expenses.

Former Rep. Stephen Stockman (R-TX) was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday for orchestrating a scheme to defraud donors and using the money for personal and campaign use, according to a Justice Department press release. Stockman was charged with 23 felonies back in April—including wire fraud, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, and money laundering—after he and his co-defendants solicited $1,250,571.65 in donations from charities and their leaders. Stockman and the others then laundered the money before using it for a personal and campaign expenses. According to the DOJ, Stockman and his co-defendants “used a series of sham nonprofit organizations and dozens of bank accounts” in order to launder the money. In addition to the 10 years in prison, Stockman was ordered to pay $1,014,718.51 in restitution. He will also be under three years of supervised release after his prison sentence. Stockman previously served two terms in the House and lost a Republican Senate primary bid against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in 2014. “At trial, the government proved to the jury that former Congressman Stockman ran his campaign and fraudulent charities to simply enrich himself and defrauded well-meaning donors,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick of the Southern District of Texas wrote in the release. “This type of corruption by public officials gives our entire democratic system a black eye.”

FELONY FUNDS

Former Rep. Steve Stockman Found Guilty of 23 Felonies