WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- Former U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards may have to pay back $2.3 million in federal matching funds given his 2008 campaign, officials say.
The Federal Election Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting Thursday to decide whether or not Edwards, a former Democratic U.S. senator from North Carolina, will have to pay back the money, Politico reported.
Edwards was charged in June with eight felony counts of alleged violations of campaign finance laws in connection with his concealment of an affair.
An FEC audit found that $2.1 million of matched campaign funds made after Edwards dropped out of the race were "in excess of the candidate's entitlement." The audit also found that cash-on-hand was under-reported during the fourth quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008, totaling about $1 million.
The audit says the campaign should pay $140,000 to the National Treasury.
Edward's lawyers say the campaign had to "deal with a variety of issues" that made the final 2008 payroll larger than investigators say it should have been.
