Schock pays over $1M in legal fees

by Megan R. Wilson - 07/15/15 5:37 PM ET

Former Rep. Aaron Schock spent more than $1.4 million on legal fees between April and June, according to new campaign finance reports.

The Illinois Republican resigned from Congress at the end of March after a slew of stories that questioned his use of taxpayer money on expensive gifts and events.

{mosads}The Justice Department opened an investigation into Schock before he stepped down from Congress, and a grand jury has been conducting a separate probe of him that has included interviews with former aides.

There are 14 different itemized charges in Schock’s campaign account labeled as “legal fees” in reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Wednesday. Seven law firms are involved in those expenses.

It is legal to use campaign funds to pay legal fees related to campaign spending.

A 15th charge — the largest, coming in at $500,000 — is for “legal consulting” and was paid to K Street powerhouse McGuireWoods. In total, Schock’s legal expenses amounted to roughly $1.05 million during the three-month period.

In addition to paying McGuireWoods $500,000, he paid Berliner Corcoran and Rowe, a Washington firm, a total of almost $334,000 in seven separate installments.

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Also on the payroll is The Bopp Law Firm, the same firm that represented Citizens United in the campaign finance case that ended up before the Supreme Court in 2010, eventually paving the way for super-PACs.

The former lawmaker’s report shows his campaign as being $746,985 in debt, all owed to the white-shoe law firm Jones Day. In the first quarter, that debt amount was roughly $314,000, also to Jones Day.

In spite of that debt, Schock’s campaign account lists more than $2 million in the bank.

Schock’s expenses in Congress were first questioned in February after The Washington Post wrote an article about his lavish, Downton Abbey-themed office that reportedly cost $40,000 to design.

He’s been accused of taking trips on private jets, spending big on Katy Perry concert tickets for himself and aides and over-reimbursing himself for mileage in his personal vehicle, potentially in violation of the law.

—Last updated at 6:26 p.m.

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