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House Ethics Committee to Continue Alan Grayson Investigation

grayson
Rep. Alan Grayson / AP
April 5, 2016

The House Committee on Ethics announced on Tuesday that the investigation into Rep. Alan Grayson (D., Fla.) should continue.

Grayson faces allegations that he had a staff member in his congressional office conducting work related to his hedge fund that used to be based in the Cayman Islands, conducted interviews related to his Senate campaign from his official office, had a partnership with energy firms that had contracts with the federal government, failed to report income for financial disclosure reports among other violations of federal law and House rules.

The House Office of Congressional Ethics has conducted the investigation so far. The office referred its findings to the Committee on Ethics on January 6.

Grayson's attorneys released a statement in response to the Office's report saying that there was bias by Office staffers and that the boundary is vague of what members of Congress may use of official resources for personal purposes.

The Orlando Sentinel's Steven Lemongello was one of the first to pick up the story.

This is particularly bad for Grayson as he is currently running for the Senate seat that is being vacated by Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) who ran for president. Rubio has declined to run for another term in the Senate.

Grayson is currently facing a primary challenge from Rep. Patrick Murphy (D., Fla.) who is considered to be more moderate in the swing state of Florida. Murphy has also received endorsements from President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and many fellow members of Congress. The primary election will be on August 30.

Carson was also accused of domestic violence by his then-wife during an incident on March 1, 2014. Investigators found no evidence of this and prosecutors declined to pursue charges against Grayson.