Washington Post Calls on Rangel to Resign Ways and Means Chairmanship, But What About Criminality?

09-03-2009 • National Legal and Policy Center

The Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended, provides that the Attorney General may seek civil penalty of up to $11,000 against an individual who knowingly and willfully falsifies or fails to file or report any information required by the Act. (5 U.S.C. app. § 104). In addition, 18 U.S.C. § 1001, as amended by the False Statements Accountability Act of 1996, is applicable here, That criminal statute, as here relevant, provides for a fine and/or imprisonment for up to five years for knowingly and willfully making any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation, or falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact, in a filing under the Ethics in Government Act. (emphasis ours) The scale of Rangel’s omissions means they could have only been willful and deliberate. As detailed in the Post editorial: