The Post reports on a House aide’s sentence for charges related to the reporting of income from a nonprofit.
The DOJ release explains:
On Dec. 7, 2007, Russell James Caso Jr., 36, of Canton, Ga., pleaded guilty before Judge Kennedy in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a one-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. According to court documents, Caso served as a chief of staff to the Representative from 2005 until 2007. Caso’s guilty plea stems from his relationship with a firm that, according to court documents, had a stated mission of helping American businesses operate in Russia and facilitating the flow of trade between the United States and Russia.
According to court documents, the firm sought to submit its proposals seeking federal funding for these efforts to various executive branch agencies. The firm’s general secretary met frequently with and sought official action from Caso, the Representative for whom he worked and the Representative’s staff, including their assistance in obtaining funding for the proposals.
Caso admitted that the firm’s general secretary paid his wife a total of $19,000. According to court documents, Caso’s wife received $1,500 to edit written drafts of the firm’s proposals. After being paid for editing the proposals, Caso’s wife received and deposited three more checks totaling $17,500 from the firm between May and August 2005. Caso admitted that he knew his wife did very little additional work beyond editing the proposals in return for this money.