Fossella admits Ward embezzlement to FEC

I stopped following Vito's FEC reports. Maybe I shouldn't have so quickly written off Fossella's ability to provide new stories.

Liz reports that in Fossella's required FEC filing replying to an inquiry why his financial numbers were not matching up he claims to now be the victim of embezzlement;

The accuracy of this report is in question due to alleged embezzlement of funds. The Committee is in the process
of reconciling its records and will file an amended report as soon as possible.

Nothing new here, just more bad PR for Vito.

Confirmed: Chris Ward stole from Vito Fossella's campaign

And the Chris Ward story is once again causing trouble for Vito Fossella. via Tom;

Christopher Ward, former NRCC treasurer, misappropriated $6,000 from Rep. Vito Fossella's re-election campaign in early January, according to the latest filing by the Fossella campaign with the Federal Election Commission. Fossella's campaign is the fourth GOP committee to report monetary diversions by Ward, although the NRCC suspects he may have pilfered "several hundred thousand" dollars beginning in 2003.

I am not sure if this is just for one quarter, this cycle or all of Ward's time as Fossella's treasurer. Certainly this will require greater scrutiny of Fossella's finances and a trip down memory lane for his staff of days when they were in much better financial shape.

Vito Fossella's ex-treasurer Chris Ward stole $740,000 from NRCC

This story keeps getting better. Today we learn Chris Ward stole $740,000 from the NRCC. via Roll Call;

An ongoing investigation into accounting irregularities at the NRCC has determined that ex-committee Treasurer Christopher J. Ward allegedly funnelled "several hundred thousand dollars" from the NRCC into his own bank accounts since at least 2004. The probe has also found that Ward submitted to the NRCC’s bank and to House GOP leadership "bogus" audit reports for years 2002-2005, with an additional "bogus" audit report provided to the NRCC’s bank for 2006.

An NRCC document detailing this information and prepared for the NRCC executive committee for presentation this afternoon represents the first time Ward has been publicly named by the NRCC as the culprit in the accounting scandal.

Even better possibly than this being Fossella's treasurer is that the NRCC now has $740,000 less to support floundering incumbents like Fossella.

The NRCC's statement. Oh and they lost nearly $1 million in 2006 too. Who wants to take a closer look at Fossella's books?

More Chris Ward, more possible bad news for Fossella

So remember Vito Fossella had to fire his treasurer Chris Ward after we found out he was under investigation by the FBI. Now it might be getting worse for Fossella.

via TPM Muckracker;

The FBI is currently investigating, and it's not clear yet why Ward was so keen to hide the real numbers. But as the Times reports this morning, the signs are not good. NRCC internal audits since Ward's discovery show that "hundreds of thousands of dollars are missing and presumed stolen." And it gets worse: there are apparently indications that "the financial irregularities might extend beyond the national committee to the campaign funds of individual Republican lawmakers who also worked with Mr. Ward, a longtime party operative."

Bold text my own. Up to this point Chris Ward has just been another unfortunate corrupt individual tied to Fossella, but there was no indication that this issue was bigger than just his misdeeds at the NRCC.

Even more Chris Ward and Vito Fossella

This time Tom actually picks up the story, a little late to the game, but bad press for Fossella regardless;

Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) has severed ties with his campaign treasurer, whom the National Republican Congressional Committee suspects of fraud.

snip

A Republican source told the Advance that the irregularities had to do with the NRCC itself, as opposed to individual lawmakers' accounts, PACs or fund-raising committees handled by Ward.

Chris Ward has been Fossella's campaign treasurer since at least July, 2006 which coincides with the end of his role as the NRCC's treasurer. Thus far no impropriety has been connected with Ward and any of his roles as treasurer for individual campaigns, but it does raise plenty of suspicions. Donors to the NRCC must be concerned and so must big donors to campaigns such as Fossella's with questions about where their money possibly went.

That said I must ask, Tom where have you been? Elizabeth Benjamin at the Daily News broke the Chris Ward and Vito Fossella connection back on February 1, twenty-two days before any coverage in the Advance.

More Chris Ward and Vito Fossella?

Chris Ward the disgraced former treasurer for Vito Fossella continues to be a story and Vito can't be happy about that.

Elizabeth brings up Ward to note that both Vito Fossella and had to fire Chris Ward after that whole NRCC and FBI thing. This is a follow up to her previous piece where she first broke that Chris Ward was then currently serving as Fossella's treasurer. But she teases us with the most interesting tidbit of them all;

According to a DC campaign finance source, the fallout from this scandal is just beginning, and could hit close to home (meaning New York) very soon.

Before you get your hopes up this comment is probably referring to Rep. Tom Reynolds who was the former chair of the NRCC while Chris Ward was treasurer, although I would certainly like to be wrong on and see Fossella get snared even more.

note: I think introducing comments from sourcing without validating why they are a credible source should not be tolerated and will comment more on this at a later date

Vito Fossella forced to fire Chris Ward amidst FBI investigations

Christopher J. Ward through this week was serving as the treasurer for Rep. Vito Fossella's re-election campaign committee. Today we find out that Vito Fossella was forced to terminate his campaign's relationship with Chris Ward after his own National Republican Congressional Committee asked the FBI to investigate what they termed "severe" audit problems. This is the guy who has been handling all of Vito Fossella's money so the question is how soon until irregularities are discovered with Vito Fossella's campaign. Once again Vito Fossella is mired in ethics and corruption scandals.

Vito Fossella's treasurer fired by NRCC, under FBI investigation

Rep. Vito Fossella's current Treasurer, Christopher Ward has been fired by the National Republican Congressional Committee and the NRCC has asked the FBI to investigate potential misdeeds on his part.

Via Elizabeth Benjamin at the Daily Politics comes the break in the original Real Politics story.

The NRCC would not comment on the investigation, though the source, who is outside the committee, characterized the fraud as severe. Details of exactly what is being investigated is unclear.

Elizabeth picked up the unreported connection that not only has Mr. Ward worked for several other Congressional and Senate campaigns in addition to the NRCC, but he is severing as Rep. Vito Fossella's re-election campaign treasurer. In fact he has served in this position at least through last Monday, January 28, 2008 when he files Fossella's 4Q FEC report. There are no public indications yet that Rep. Fossella has removed him from his paid campaign staff.

This now raises many unpleasant questions for Rep. Vito Fossella. Are his fund raising reports now under scrutiny? Has Mr. Ward commited any similar fraudulent activites on Rep. Fossella's campaign that the NRCC discovered? Is Mr. Ward still employed by Rep. Fossella?

In the end I can't say that corruption tied to Rep. Fossella should surprise anyone.