sexual harassment allegations<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\nA House communications staffer assigned to Rep. Ammons referred questions to her district office, which didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment. Nor did Aaron Ammons, who was elected clerk in 2018.<\/p>\n
The six-term Rep. Ammons \u201cdevised a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois, its taxpayers, and donors and contributors to her campaign\u201d from 2017 through June 2025, the indictment reads.<\/p>\n
During the 2020 state budget season, Rep. Ammons allegedly \u201ccaused a change in an appropriation for a state grant\u201d from one nonprofit to another that her daughter worked for, collecting $3,326 until being informed by the organization and state officials that \u201cit was an impermissible conflict of interest,\u201d according to the indictment.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ammons didn\u2019t assist that nonprofit the next year \u201cafter she learned that it could not pay her daughter,\u201d but she helped two other organizations line up grant funding after hiring her daughter, \u201cknowing full well it was a conflict of interest,\u201d the indictment reads. The legislator and her daughter allegedly netted more than $100,000.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, payments were made from the Friends of Carol Ammons campaign fund to herself and family members \u201cthat were not legitimate payments for services actually rendered.\u201d Other individuals allegedly received inflated payments and were expected \u201cto provide cash kickbacks to her, sometimes referred to as \u2018gifts,\u2019\u201d according to the feds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m home now but can catch you before board at the county building at 6 to grab the gift,\u201d Rep. Ammons allegedly wrote in a 2022 text message.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ammons \u2014 who\u2019s unopposed in the November election being overseen by her husband’s office \u2014 failed to report some $25,000 in other supposed campaign expenses that included kickbacks, prosecutors said. She allegedly paid her daughter about $600 per month, totaling almost $16,000.<\/p>\n
The legislator faces a false statement charge for telling an FBI agent she wasn\u2019t aware of the conflict of interest in grant spending.<\/p>\n
Her husband allegedly told a potential witness that \u201cthey should speak in code words about the ongoing federal investigation\u201d and directed another to \u201cmuddy the waters\u201d for agents tracking payments to Rep. Ammons.<\/p>\n
Her campaign fund contained more than $67,000 as of March 31, according to state election board records.<\/p>\n
Last month, Ammons\u2019 daughter Titianna Ammons was indicted on three counts of wire fraud for allegedly claiming federal COVID-19 unemployment insurance benefits while she was serving on the Champaign County Board.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t clear if she\u2019s the unnamed daughter mentioned in the indictment of Rep. Ammons, who has three children, according to a biography posted on her General Assembly webpage. The legislator’s campaign fund has reported 28 payments over the years to Tatianni Ammons, mostly categorized as “staff salaries,” records show.<\/p>\n
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel \u201cChris\u201d Welch, D-Hillside, called the allegations “extremely serious” and said he was “temporarily” removing Ammons from caucus meetings and committee assignments “[i]n the interest of upholding the integrity of the House and ensuring we can continue our important work without distraction.” Welch also ordered a budget review “to determins whether any funds need to be paused or reconsidered.”<\/p>\n
“Every person under our system of justice is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process,” Welch said in a statement. “The U.S. Attorney will lay out evidence in court, where Representative Ammons will have the chance to defend herself against the allegations.”<\/p>\n
In a statement, Gov. JB Pritzker said the indictment is “extremely concerning and needs to be taken very seriously to ensure elected officials are accountable to the people they represent.”<\/p>\n
Pritzker’s office noted “the State of Illinois had identified and took steps to stop an impermissible conflict of interest with a state grant. The Governor’s Office will review all the other grants listed in the indictment to ensure we are taking all steps possible to protect taxpayer dollars.”<\/p>\n
House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, said Ammons “should resign immediately.”<\/p>\n
“Speaker Welch should join me in calling for her resignation,” McCombie said. “Leadership means holding your own members accountable, not waiting until political pressure becomes unavoidable. Elected officials are entrusted with serving the public, not enriching themselves, and the seriousness of these allegations demands accountability.”<\/p>\n
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A central Illinois state representative schemed to direct state grant money to her daughter, took kickbacks on bogus campaign expenses and lied to the FBI about it all, according to federal prosecutors. State Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cnn-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/governedbyidiots.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/governedbyidiots.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/governedbyidiots.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/governedbyidiots.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/governedbyidiots.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/governedbyidiots.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/governedbyidiots.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/governedbyidiots.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/governedbyidiots.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}