U.S. Representative from Oregon Jailed, Fined
(December 11) A former U.S. Congressman for Oregon’s Second District was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison on tax evasion charges and ordered to repay $3.5 million to defrauded investors, along with $138,470 in back taxes.
Republican Wes Cooley, now 80 years old, served one term beginning in 1994. He withdrew from the 1996 race amid allegations he’d lied about his military service in Korea and concealed his marriage. In 2009 Cooley was accused of selling the unregistered stock of Bidbay.com and lying about its pending acquisition by Ebay, bilking investors of about $10M. He was also accused of concealing more than $1M of income from the IRS on his 2002 tax return.
(Bloomberg at www.bloomberg.com)