{"id":49947,"date":"2022-06-01T14:46:59","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T21:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49947"},"modified":"2022-06-01T14:48:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T21:48:02","slug":"political-candidate-illegally-used-covid-19-relief-funds-for-personal-expenses-and-political-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49947","title":{"rendered":"Political Candidate Illegally Used COVID-19 Relief Funds for Personal Expenses and Political Ads"},"content":{"rendered":"

IDAHO<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"USAA former Congressional candidate pleaded guilty Wednesday for using COVID-19 relief funds for personal expenditures, officials stated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He falsified records to conceal thousands of dollars of in-kind contributions by employees in a report to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicholas Jones pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court of Idaho to wire fraud and falsification of records. Jones will be sentenced at a later date. Jones faces up to 40 years in prison, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
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According to court documents, in 2020, Jones, 36, of Boise, Idaho, a small business owner, applied for and received COVID-19 relief funds, including through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), totaling $753,600. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Despite certifying that these funds would only be used for business-related expenditures, Jones used a significant portion of the funds for personal expenses, including car payments, life insurance policies, and political advertisements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2020,\u00a0 officials stated Jones ran as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. Jones told employees of his small business that they could continue to be paid their normal wages if they worked on his congressional campaign. <\/span><\/p>\n

Employees reported to work on behalf of Jones\u2019s congressional campaign and were paid thousands of dollars in wages through Jones\u2019s small business including, in part, with funds Jones had received as part of a PPP loan. <\/span><\/p>\n

After losing the primary election, Jones caused his campaign committee to file a campaign finance report with the FEC, which omitted any in-kind contributions from any entity or individual other than Jones, including the thousands of dollars of in-kind contributions to his campaign in the form of employee time and work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The FBI is investigating the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IDAHO A former Congressional candidate pleaded guilty Wednesday for using COVID-19 relief funds for personal expenditures, officials stated.\u00a0 He falsified records to conceal thousands of dollars of in-kind contributions by employees in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nPolitical Candidate Illegally Used COVID-19 Relief Funds for Personal Expenses and Political Ads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"IDAHO A former Congressional candidate pleaded guilty Wednesday for using COVID-19 relief funds for personal expenditures, officials stated.\u00a0 He falsified\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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