Obama's 1st transportation secretary admits to hiding payment from Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire


The Justice Department said Wednesday that Ray LaHood, when he was U.S. transportation secretary, accepted a $50,000 check that he "understood at the time" came from Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, purposefully failed to disclose the "loan" as required on two government ethics forms, then "made misleading statements to FBI agents investigating Chagoury about the check and its source."
LaHood, a Republican former congressman from Illinois, served in President Barack Obama's Cabinet from 2009 to 2013. He initially denied receiving the loan in a 2017 interview with the FBI, Politico reports, but he acknowledged the payment when agents showed him a copy of the check. Under a December 2019 non-prosecution agreement, the Justice Department disclosed Wednesday, LaHood agreed to pay back the $50,000 he got in June 2012, pay a $40,000 fine, and cooperate with the government's investigation of Chagoury.
The Justice Department also said Thursday that Chagoury had agreed to pay $1.8 million to avoid prosecution over $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions he funneled to U.S. politicians through an associate in Virginia, Toufic Baaklini. Chagoury gained notoriety for donating to the Clinton Foundation, but all the payments though Baaklini appear to have gone to Republicans, including $100,000 to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, Politico reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Baaklini also wrote the personal check to LaHood, but that was a "separate and unrelated matter" from the campaign finance violations, the Justice Department said. In 2015, Baaklini did chip in $2,700 to the campaign of LaHood's son Darin, who now holds his father's old seat in Congress, Axios notes.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Can Starmer sell himself as the 'tough on immigration' PM?
Today's Big Question Former human rights lawyer 'now needs to own the change – not just mouth the slogans' to win over a sceptical public
-
UK-India trade deal: how the social security arrangements will work
The Explainer A National Insurance exemption in the UK-India trade deal is causing concern but should British workers worry?
-
Man arrested after 'suspicious' fires at properties linked to Keir Starmer
Speed Read Prime minister thanks emergency services after fire at his former family home in north London
-
Kurdish PKK militia to disband for Turkey talks
speed read The Kurdistan Workers' Party will disarm after four decades of armed conflict with Turkey, putting an end to 'one of the longest insurgencies in the Middle East'
-
US, China agree to lower tariffs for 90 days
speed read US tariffs will fall to 30% from 145%, while China will cut its tax on US imports to 10% from 125%
-
India strikes Pakistan as tensions mount in Kashmir
speed read Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an 'act of war'
-
Israel approves plan to take over Gaza indefinitely
speed read Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is 'on the eve of a forceful entry'
-
Putin talks nukes as Kyiv slated for US air defenses
speed read 'I hope they will not be required,' Putin said of nuclear weapons on Russian state TV
-
US, Ukraine sign joint minerals deal
speed read The Trump administration signed a deal with Ukraine giving the US access to its mineral wealth
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Israel launches air strike on Beirut suburbs
Speed Read The attack targeting Hezbollah was Israel's third on the Lebanese capital since November's ceasefire