THIS LOOKS SERIOUS: Former Rep. Steve Stockman charged with diverting charitable funds to campaign.

“It is a crime to make a campaign contribution by one person in the name of another, and to make a false statement to the Federal Elections Commission,” according to a sworn statement by FBI Agent Vanessa Walther, which was unsealed in federal court in Houston Friday.

The agent says that in January 2013, shortly after taking office as a congressman for the second time, Stockman solicited $350,000 in charitable donations from an unidentified “wealthy businessman” on behalf of a Las Vegas-based nonprofit, Life Without Limits, which had been set up to help people through traumatic events.

The donation ostensibly was to have been used to renovate the so-called Freedom House in Washington, D.C.

Instead, the check was deposited a few days later in a Webster bank account set up by Stockman doing business as Life Without Limits., an account that had a balance of only $33.48 at the time, according to the sworn statement.

Instead of spending the money on the Freedom House, however, Stockman diverted the funds to pay personal expenses and make illegal contributions to his campaigns, according to the agent.
Records show he made no contributions toward renovation of the Freedom House.