It seems Aaron Schock will go to trial for 22 counts of corruption charges.
Several national news outlets are reporting that the case for former 18th district congressman Aaron Schock was dealt a hard hit on Tuesday. The United States Supreme Court has denied a pre-trial appeal from Schock and his legal team in an attempt to get charges against him thrown out.
Charges in the reported criminal indictment against Schock include filing false tax returns, mail fraud, wire fraud, submitting false reports to the Federal Election Commission, and making false statements to Congress.
In addition, a theft of government funds charge alleges that Schock defrauded the government of more than $100,000.
Trouble started when photos taken inside Schock’s congressional office, which had been remodeled, publicly leaked online. The theme of the office’s design was the TV show “Downton Abbey”, and it was later discovered that Schock illegally accepted a designer’s services for free.
Politico has reported that eight of the U.S. Supreme Court justices offered no written explanation for the decision to turn down the former congressman’s petition. However, Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a two-page statement concurring with her colleagues while expressing concern about one of the issues Schock’s lawyers raised.
The case is being heard by Chicago judge Matthew Kennelly after two judges were either taken away from the case or recused themselves.
As previously reported, Springfield-based federal judge, Sue Myerscough, recused herself from the case in 2017 because of indications Schock was involved in discussions related to her appointment. The Urbana-based judge who picked up the case, Colin Bruce, was removed from all of his criminal cases because of alleged improper email discussions about a pending case with a former clerk connected to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The corruption trial of Aaron Schock is set to begin with Judge Kennelly presiding on June 10th.