Rep, Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., is under House Ethics Committee investigation for alleged financial fraud and improper relationship with a staffer. File Photo by Saul Loeb/UPI |
License Photo
May 23 (UPI) -- Outgoing Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., is facing a House investigation over allegations of financial fraud and an improper relationship with a staffer, lawmakers said Monday.
The House Ethics Committee announced the move following a unanimous vote earlier this month to proceed with an investigation of whether the 26-year-old first-term congressman "improperly promoted a cryptocurrency in which he may have had an undisclosed financial interest" and "engaged in an improper relationship" with a staff member in his office.
Cawthorn's office said the accusations are false.
"We welcome the opportunity to prove that Congressman Cawthorn committed no wrongdoing and that he was falsely accused by partisan adversaries for political gain," Blake Harp, Cawthorn's chief of staff, said in a statement issued to The Hill.
An anti-Cawthorn PAC filed the complaint with a string of allegations on April 29th, less than three weeks before he lost his May 17 primary election to GOP opponent state Sen. Chuck Edwards.
While the ethics committee has voted to move forward on the PAC's cryptocurrency and relationship claims, it voted against investigating other allegations, that include speeding and driving with a revoked license.
The committee also did not address claims that Cawthorn brought a knife onto school property and a loaded firearm to airport security checkpoints.
Before the primary election, Cawthorn brushed off the ethics complaint on Twitter.
"Digging stuff up from my early 20s to smear me is pathetic," Cawthorn said. "At least be consistent with your attack instead of changing the focus every time. A campaign is based on nothing but slander and personal attacks is a campaign that lacks a true sense of how to save the country from leftists."
