Congressman and Wife Indicted for Wire Fraud due to spending campaign funds on Steam video games and more

[AlTech]

Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife have been indicted on counts of Wire Fraud due to his son allegedly spending campaign funds on Steam video games.

 

 

The congressman's wife falsely told her bank that the Steam charges were fraudulent and received $1302 credit.

 

The congressman is accused of spending $1500 of Campaign funds on purchasing video games on Steam. At one point he spent up to $96 in one instance on Steam.

 

Quote

What would you do if you had access to millions of dollars in campaign funds? You'd probably blow some of it on video games, right? That's what records say happened with $1,302 of the money earmarked for the campaign of Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), drawing the attention of the Federal Election Commission.

As The San Diego Tribune reports, a Hunter spokesman says the charges originally stemmed from Hunter's teenage son, who "used his father’s credit card for one game," after which "several unauthorized charges resulted after the father tried to close access to the website." That's a bit of a pat explanation considering that Steam Games were charged to Hunter's campaign account on 68 separate occasions between October 13 and December 16, with $96 spent in one instance. Managing your various payment methods on Steam can be a little difficult, but that's a long time for a parent to utterly fail at "closing access to the website."

 

Quote

In a 47-page indictment today, federal prosecutors formally charged Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and his wife Margaret with wire fraud, falsifying records, campaign finance violations, and conspiracy involving $250,000 of campaign funds. That includes $1,528.68 spent "at Steam Games on video games" in 2015, according to the criminal complaint.

Margaret Hunter claimed at one point those purchases were "personal" and put on the campaign credit card in error, according to the documents. The campaign later promised in FEC reports that the Hunter family would pay back over $1,300 in Steam purchases from personal funds for this reason. But in 2016, according to the charging documents, Margaret Hunter falsely told her bank that the Steam charges were "fraudulent" and received a $1,302 credit for the purchases.

The indictment also alleges the Hunters used campaign funds for lavish personal spending on vacations, clothing, food and drink, salon trips, dental work, and more while concealing this spending from the FEC and investigators.

 

I know this is loosely tech news but hear me out.

 

Of course I am obliged to remind you that the forum does not allow political discussions.

 

Also, who spends $96 on Steam games in one sitting? Damn

 

Source: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/08/congressman-blames-son-for-spending-1300-in-campaign-funds-on-steam-games/

[PlayStation 2]

hey if he got tf2 he can hmu i need someone that mains medic

[Syntaxvgm]

What, are you going to NOT spend campaign money on the summer sale? 

Come on 

[AlTech]

9 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

What, are you going to NOT spend campaign money on the summer sale? 

Come on 

I wonder if one of those games he bought was GTA V or WatchDogs2

[TAHIRMIA]

Well at least he's not playing on console.

[kting15]

why did the kid even have access to that bank account?

[Syntaxvgm]

1 minute ago, kting15 said:

why did the kid even have access to that bank account?

so he could spend the money on personal things. 

[Techstorm970]

29 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife have been indicted on counts of Wire Fraud due to his son allegedly spending campaign funds on Steam video games.

Some people's kids, man!  Geez...  

[DildorTheDecent]

>at one point spent up to $96

 

Yeah, wow that's REALLY big /s

[kting15]

Just now, Syntaxvgm said:

so he could spend the money on personal things. 

yeah I understand that, but that is illegal. But apparently his parents didn't give two shits either because they spent campaign money on other personal things too, which is also illegal.

[Syntaxvgm]

Just now, kting15 said:

yeah I understand that, but that is illegal. But apparently his parents didn't give two shits either because they spent campaign money on other personal things too, which is also illegal.

Thats the point. This kid has a future in nepotism when he gets older, this is what families in politics look like. The only place where trickle down economics truly works as intended. 

[wasab]

If you are gonna embezzel money might as well as embezzel them in the most balatant way possible eh?

[Syntaxvgm]

2 minutes ago, wasab said:

If you are gonna embezzel money might as well as embezzel them in the most balatant way possible eh?

Starting a shell political advertising company called "Money laundering for the purposes of political campaign contribution embezzlement LLC" could do the trick a little better. 

[Tiffany123]

Hi here!!   I am new

[Kamina]

Feel like I've heard this story before.

[Sakkura]

These are also the special people who managed to overdraw an account 1100 times in 7 years.

 

That's 3 times a week. Almost impressive, really.

 

They also continued their fraud long after the authorities notified them that they were under extra scrutiny (brilliant), and repeatedly falsely claimed their expenses were to benefit wounded veterans (just to make things extra slimy).

 

Oh yeah, and they complained that their accountant was trying to create a paper trail of their expenses (which is the whole damn point).

[S w a t s o n]

Damn, Gaben's sales even get to the US congress. Someone stop this madman.

 

[FloRolf]

5 hours ago, DildorTheDecent said:

>at one point spent up to $96

 

Yeah, wow that's REALLY big /s

Yeah lol, thought the same. 

Thats like 2 new AAA titles. Nothing special. 

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, FloRolf said:

Thats like 2 new AAA titles.

It's not even that.

[Tech_Dreamer]

$1300 on steam? Why you little..

[ARikozuM]

The kid bought Pheromone Z for Gal Gun? 

 

Nothing to see here, guys. 

 

Also, do we really expect anyone to use funds responsibly? #DontAnswerThat

[TetraSky]

That the kid even had access to an account containing campaign funds, is the biggest oversight here.
How do you even mistake a credit card used for your campaign, with your legitimate one. Surely they weren't from the same bank(or credit union) and/or even looked the same... right?

[D13H4RD]

That's a lot of Mann Co. Supply Crate Keys 

[PlayStation 2]

Just now, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

That's a lot of Mann Co. Supply Crate Keys 

you know dude deadass bought himself a burning flames patriot peak

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Syntaxvgm said:

so he could spend the money on personal things. 

You don't give a kid that much money. Maybe like a fiver or so, but not too much.