Philly DA Williams faces more federal corruption charges
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams spent more than $10,000 in campaign donations on massages, facials, and pricey dinners for himself and a girlfriend, prosecutors said Tuesday as they added corruption charges to their case against him less than a month before his trial.
Most of the expenses detailed in a 29-count superseding indictment were incurred at the Union League on South Broad Street and at Williams’ gym a block away, the Sporting Club at the Bellevue. The district attorney has made no secret for years that he paid his membership dues to both clubs out of his campaign coffers, arguing that the payments were legal under the state’s relatively loose campaign-finance laws.
The new allegations added to the portrait investigators have sought to paint since March of Williams as a man who lived beyond his means on other people’s money.
In outlining their case Tuesday, investigators steered clear of any fights over whether membership dues were an acceptable political expense and instead focused on expenses at both places that they contend have no legitimate political purpose.
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