Ex-presidential hopeful indicted over affair

June 3, 2011

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By Vicini and Pelofsky | Reuters – 42 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful

was indicted on Friday for using illegal campaign contributions to cover up an

extramarital affair, a fall from grace for a man who was once expected to go far

in American politics.

, 57, was charged with six counts of conspiracy, illegal campaign

contributions and making false statements, according to the federal indictment.

He was due to appear at a 2:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. BST) hearing in U.S. District

Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, in Winston-Salem, the Justice

Department said.

' lawyer has denied any wrongdoing.

The indictment accused of secretly obtaining hundreds of thousands of

dollars and using them to cover up his extramarital affair with a campaign

worker, Rielle Hunter, knowing that revelations of the liaison and her

subsequent pregnancy would destroy his presidential bid.

The affair would undermine " ' presentation of himself as a family man and

by forcing his campaign to divert personnel and resources away from other

campaign activities to respond to criticism and media scrutiny regarding the

affair and pregnancy, " the indictment said.

The affair ran from February 2006 until August 2008. was accused of

receiving more than $900,000 in illegal contributions, according to the 19-page

indictment. The federal limit on individual contributions to candidates at the

time was $2,300.

, a trial lawyer and former U.S. senator, eventually admitted to the

affair and that he fathered a child with Hunter. He and his wife, ,

separated, and she died of cancer last year.

He ran for the White House in 2004 and 2008 and was selected as the

vice-presidential running-mate by Democratic Senator Kerry in 2004 but

their bid to unseat incumbent President W. Bush failed.

(Reporting by Vicini and Pelofsky, editing by Vicki and Doina

Chiacu)

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