Representative Rick Renzi (R-AZ) was indicted by a federal grand jury Friday in an alleged scheme to profit from a land deal.
Renzi, 49, who was first elected to the House in 2002, was charged along with James Sandlin, 56, a real estate investor and one of his political backers, and Andrew Beardall, 36, an attorney who had been general counsel of Renzi's family insurance business.
Renzi and Beardall are accused of embezzling money from insurance clients to fund the lawmaker's congressional campaign.
The 35-count, 26-page federal indictment, issued in Arizona, includes charges of conspiracy, money laundering, insurance fraud and wire fraud. An arraignment has been set for March 6 in U.S. District Court in Tucson, the Justice Department said.
The indictment accuses Renzi and two former business partners of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government. The sale netted one of Renzi's former partners $4.5 million.
Renzi is a three-term member of the House. He announced in August that he would not seek re-election.
Renzi and attorney Beardall were charged with conspiring to steal more than $400,000 from Renzi's insurance business from December 2001 through June 2003. The money was used to fund Renzi's campaign for Congress, according to court papers.
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