Representative Linda Sanchez's husband charged with bribery

The US attorney in New Haven, Connecticut, announced that a federal grand jury had issued two indictments blaming five people for stealing federal funds. One of the accused is James Sullivan, married to California Democratic Representative Linda Sanchez.

According to a government statement, the US attorney claims that the conspirators conspired to misuse an account containing funds from federal grants to the Connecticut Municipal Electric Power Corporation (CMEEC), a public service licensing company. municipalities in Connecticut to provide electricity. Under the Accession Agreement, six municipalities have forecast that excess revenues, called "CMEEC margin", would be returned to member cities to help stabilize electricity costs for citizens. Between 2010 and 2015, according to US lawyer, CMEEC received more than $ 9 million in grants from the US Department of Energy. Instead, the government said the five co-conspirators spend the funds for themselves.

"Instead of protecting these funds and returning excess revenues to member cities and taxpayers, these defendants would have used the CMEEC's margin account as a secret fund to pay for great junkets for themselves, their family and their friends, as well as for other inappropriate expenses, "said US lawyer John Durham in the press release.

Sullivan, 52, represented the town of Norwich, one of the member municipalities, and was also chair of the CMEEC board of directors.

The first indictment alleges that the five men used more than $ 800,000 in the margin for "lavish travels outside of Connecticut", including in the Kentucky Derby and a luxury golf resort in Virginia. West. The government noted that travel had nothing to do with CMEEC affairs, but rather aimed at personally benefiting co-conspirators and their families and friends.

The second indictment alleges that Sullivan embarked on a conspiracy to pay his personal expenses out of the margin funds. According to the government, the price includes "a plane ticket for a flight from Sullivan's wife to Key West, Florida" in December 2014.

Citizens of some of the municipalities have been moving these trips for years and at least some of the officials who attended Derby's trip in 2016 paid the city or donated to charities under the pressure of public opinion as a result of the controversy. State law now requires all CMEEC retreats to be organized and include official activities, according to The Day.

On Thursday afternoon, Sanchez issued a statement in response to her husband 's indictment.

"Earlier in the day, I learned that my husband was being sued in Connecticut," she wrote. "After carefully studying the time and energy spent on leadership requirements, I decided that I now had to focus on my son, my family, and my constituents from California."

Sanchez, the current vice president of the Democratic caucus, has recently pulled out of the race for the presidency of the Democratic caucus, citing as unspecified a "family affair".

This is a story in development and will be updated.

Ed O & # 39; Keefe and Rebecca Kaplan contributed to this report