Nick Freitas? Paperwork issues? No way! *Pretends to be shocked*
After missing both the filing deadline for his 2019 House of Delegates race AND his filing deadline for his 2020 congressional campaign, Freitas is now apparently lying on at least one of his financial disclosure forms, according to new explosive reporting from Roll Call.
From Roll Call:
“Nick Freitas, the Republican challenging freshman Democrat Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s 7th District, reported different amounts of 2019 income from his consulting business in financial disclosures he had to file this year as a state legislator and as a congressional candidate.
In a Virginia state filing required for members of the House of Delegates, he disclosed that his income from Gold Team Consulting was $50,000 or less. However, in a federal disclosure filed with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, Freitas listed his income from the business in 2019 as $130,900 — a difference of more than $80,000.”
If you think that sounds bad, you’re right. According to Roll Call:
“The Virginia ethics council’s guidance also says that the statement of economic interests ‘must be completed on the basis of your ‘best knowledge, information, and belief’ as of the date you submit it. A knowing and intentional false statement of material fact on the Statement is a Class 5 felony.”
The story also highlighted how Freitas’ long list of paperwork difficulties has damaged his campaign and ruined the GOP’s prospects in the Seventh District:
“The discrepancy is the latest of a series of paperwork errors that have plagued Freitas’ campaign and complicated GOP efforts to win back a seat the party considered among its best pickup opportunities at the beginning of the cycle.”
But what is he hiding?
“Nick Freitas was already in a tough spot because of his record and his commitment to stripping away health care coverage from thousands of working families in the middle of a pandemic. Now, he is having to answer for, at best, another major paperwork error, and at worst, an attempt to hide the truth about his finances from Virginia voters,” said DCCC Spokesperson Christine Bennett. “Nick Freitas can’t be trusted to fill out basic forms, let alone represent the Seventh District in Congress. He needs to come forward immediately and tell Virginians the truth about his shady finances.”
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