The National Republican Congressional Committee acknowledged today that former treasurer Christopher Ward transferred money from NRCC accounts to his own bank accounts, among other findings.
National Republican Congressional Committee officials acknowledged publicly today that they have found discrepancies in their books of more than a million dollars and evidence that the NRCC's former treasurer, Christopher Ward, made "several hundred thousand dollars" worth of unauthorized wire transfers out of the committee that appear to have ended up in Ward's own bank accounts.
The NRCC launched an internal probe and contacted the FBI in January after learning that Ward "apparently fabricated and submitted 2006 financial statements to the NRCC's bank," according to a memo issued by the committee today. Some details of the probe have been reported previously, but today's memo and press briefing by a lawyer retained by the committee marked the fullest public accounting so far of the unfolding scandal.
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The NRCC has found that the amount of cash on hand it reported to the Federal Election Commission at the end of 2006 was approximately $990,000 more than the committee actually had in the bank. The total the NRCC reported in the bank to the FEC as of Jan. 31, 2008, was $740,000 more than the actual amount, and the committee has discovered that it owes $200,000 more on its outstanding line of credit than it has reported to the FEC.
A couple of things here. First, Ward robbed them blind. The amounts being discussed here are enormous. Also, you would think that the leaders of this committee (Tom Reynolds, anyone?) would know if these amounts of money were being ripped off. |
