Fattah isn’t exactly renowned for his engagement with policy, although he does have the very occasional good idea — he’s more famous for ducking out of work to play golf. Lots of rumors like this dogged his long tenure and it looks like this may catch up to him:
A longtime aide and political adviser to U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.) pleaded guilty Wednesday to concealing the misuse of $622,000 in campaign contributions and federal grant funds, in a case that appears to have led investigators straight to the congressman’s door.
Gregory Naylor, 66, admitted that he conspired with his boss – identified in court filings only as “Elected Official A” – to pay off a series of debts, including an unreported $1 million campaign donation, with grant funds and political contributions funneled through a series of nonprofits and consulting firms.
In a separate scheme, Naylor said, he helped steer more than $22,000 in federal campaign donations to his own firm, Sydney Lei & Associates, that were then covertly used to pay off college debts for the elected official’s son. A source close to the investigation confirmed that Fattah’s 31-year-old son, Chaka Jr., was the beneficiary of those payments.
