A top Republican operative is now facing up to 20 years in prison after getting hit with federal criminal charges over his embezzlement of over $1.4 million in cash from the campaign committee of Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio). The operative — Jamie Schwartz — served as Chabot’s campaign manager before his crimes were discovered, and he has now been charged with crimes including wire fraud and falsification of records. His scheme involved (among other elements) submitting fabricated financial records to the Federal Election Commission as part of an effort to hide his illegal self-dealing.
As summarized by The Cincinnati Enquirer, Schwartz “embezzled the money from the congressional campaign by writing checks to himself and his companies that were for more money than he and his companies had earned.” Schwartz also claimed in filings that his own father was the treasurer for Chabot’s campaign, but Schwartz’s father has had no apparent actual involvement in the campaign. Schwartz’s lie that his father was the treasurer could have shielded him from the scrutiny of an actual treasurer.
Kevin Tierney, who is working as a lawyer for Schwartz, said that the operative and ex-Chabot campaign manager is “extremely remorseful.” As he put it:
‘Jamie voluntarily turned himself in to the federal authorities some time ago. He accepts responsibility for his actions and is extremely remorseful.’
Megan Sowards Newton, a lawyer for Chabot, added as follows:
‘The campaign was deeply disappointed to learn the scale of Mr. Schwartz’s crimes and is grateful to all the officials involved for bringing the matter to its appropriate resolution.’
Schwartz was described by one local Republican as having been “the only game in town” prior to the discovery of his crimes, according to the Enquirer — in other words, he wasn’t just passing through, and he had done work for Chabot as early as 2008, over ten years before financial issues associated with his embezzlement were first discovered back in 2019. Chabot has been in office for all but two years since 1994. (From early 2009 to early 2011, the seat was held by a Democrat.) He has indicated that he intends to run for re-election after winning his most recent re-election bid by a little over 7 percent.
Featured Image (edited): via Oren on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons License
