Congressman pleads guilty to tax evasion
A REPUBLICAN congressman from New York City admitted on Wednesday to federal tax evasion, pleading guilty to charges he had fought as he won reelection this year but that now leave his congressional future in question.
Michael Grimm entered a guilty plea to one count of aiding in the filing of a false tax return. He made headlines in January after telling a local cable TV news station reporter he wanted to throw him off a balcony for asking about a campaign finance inquiry.
Grimm, 44, had been set to go to trial in February on charges of evading taxes by hiding more than US$1 million in sales and wages while running a Manhattan health-food restaurant. Joined in court by two attorneys, he acknowledged sending his accountant under-reported receipts and using the leftover money to pay employees off the books and cover other expenses.
Sentencing was scheduled for June 8. Prosecutors said a range of 24 to 30 months in prison would be appropriate, while the defence estimated the appropriate sentence as between 12 and 18 months.
News of the planned plea quickly brought pressure from Democrats for Grimm to resign his seat.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in a statement before his court appearance that it was ‘‘past time for Michael Grimm to go’’, calling his continued presence in Congress ‘‘a disservice to the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn and a stain on the institution’’.
Asked in October whether he would resign if found guilty, Grimm responded, ‘‘Certainly, if I was not able to serve, then of course I would step aside.’’
But if Grimm refuses to resign, it would take a rare vote by his fellow lawmakers to expel him from the House. The last member to be expelled was James Traficant, who was kicked out of Congress in 2002.
A former Marine and FBI agent, Grimm got to Congress by scoring an upset win in 2010. Grimm won reelection in November, little more than six months after he was indicted.
According to an indictment, the tax fraud began in 2007 after Grimm retired from the FBI and began investing in a small Manhattan restaurant called Healthalicious. The indictment accused him of under-reporting more than $1 million in wages and receipts to evade payroll, income and sales taxes, partly by paying immigrant workers, some of them in the country illegally, in cash.
When he was initially charged, Grimm called the case ‘‘a political witch hunt’’.
An independent advisory office recommended that the House Ethics Committee investigate the balcony incident. The ethics panel deferred its investigation into Grimm while the Justice Department case was ongoing.
If Grimm doesn’t resign, the panel is sure to address the case next year.