In a new court filing this week, federal prosecutors claim that Hunter used campaign funds to pay for drinks, dinners, and trips with women with whom he had extramarital affairs, including three lobbyists, a staffer in his congressional office, and a woman who worked for another member of the House of Representatives. Getty Images A United States congressman pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to stealing. Other than that, you will need to contact support. Duncan Hunter shown today after pleading guilty to misusing campaign funds in federal court.

In 2-3 days, the hold will be released, and the money will be returned. First off, if the transaction failed, most likely the money was not taken from your card, but it's placed on 'hold'. But new shoes continue to drop for the California congressman, and by shoes we mean the shoes, pants, and shirt Hunter allegedly took off at multiple mistresses’ homes before invoicing his campaign for the rides home. I really don't want the game now I want my money 1. Duncan himself maintains that he is not guilty of any of the five-dozen charges on which he was indicted last August, which include allegations that the couple blew more than $250,000 in campaign money on, among other things, trips to Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Hawaii, and Italy Costco runs clothes family dental bills and Steelers tickets. The congressman first came under fire in 2016 when it was revealed he had spent $1,300 in campaign funds on Steam.Īt the time, he claimed his son used the campaign credit card to purchase one game through the service, and all other transactions were unauthorized by him or his son.Įarlier this month, disgraced GOP Congressman Duncan Hunter received some bad news when his wife, Margaret Hunter, decided to plead guilty to conspiring with him to “knowingly and willingly” abuse campaign funds to finance their lavish lifestyle, and pledged to cooperate in the case against her husband.

Sentencing has yet to be handed down, but he and his wife could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His guilty plea entered today acknowledges and accepts responsibility for his conduct.” money should be spent on schools by the federal government if that money is not controlled. “Congressman Hunter used the power of his position to fund a lifestyle out of his reach, unwittingly financed by those who put him there. Then in 2012, you became my Congressman in the 52nd District. This was a deliberate, years-long violation of the law. “This was not an accounting mistake by his campaign. Hunter violated the trust of his supporters by diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars they donated in good faith to his reelection campaign for personal expenditures,” said Assistant U.S. Hunter pled guilty in federal court yesterday to using campaign funds on everything from video games to taking his family and “one of his girlfriends” on various vacations.ĭuring the proceedings, Hunter admitted to “knowingly and willfully” stealing “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in campaign funds that he and his wife used to maintain their lifestyle.Īccording to the plea agreement, the representative and his wife used $150,000 in campaign funds from 2010 through 2016 to purchase goods and services by making over 30 illegal transactions for personal use. Given the range of purchases, I doubt he will have much luck getting refunds (especially if they’ve been played) so this will be an interesting case to follow.California Congressman Duncan Hunter (R) has pled guilty to spending campaign funds on personal purchases such as buying games on Steam. With so many expenses the story of one charge and then several new ones doesn’t really hold up given the cost of the games. The charges range from $5 to $96.30, a little more than just a “one-off expense” and a little bigger than your average purchase. The purchases range from the 13th of October to the 16th of December, totaling 68 different charges to Steam. The Federal Election Commission has released a letter on the subject, containing a list of purchases made. The requests have led to Hunter trying to get the charges reversed, something that may test the steam refund policy, especially if the games were played for several hours since (an almost certainty).

The problem being is that the funds have yet to be repaid.Īccording to Hunter, his son is responsible for the initial purchase and then “several unauthorized charges resulted after the father tried to close access to the website”. The tribune noted that they were a personal expense and had to be paid back. Robert Smalls made a daring sea escape during the Civil War as a slave and went on to serve five terms in Congress as a Representative from South Carolina. Congressman Duncan Hunter is being investigated for just the same thing, having spent campaign money on Steam games.Īccording to the San Diego-tribunes report, using campaign money a credit card was used to purchase not one but $1302 games on Steam. We all love a new game, but it does raise questions when the money you spend on is marked to be used for something else.

Congressman who spent money on steam