After the State of the Union, Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) made fame when he threatened to throw a reporter off the balcony in the House. The reporters crime? Simply asking Grimm about a federal investigation he was focus of. Now we know why Grimm met such question with a fierce outburst and threat of violence:
In a 30-page indictment unsealed Monday, Grimm—in an apparent scheme to avoid tax payments– is charged with under-reporting income from Healthalicious, where he allegedly employed workers who were illegally in the country. In addition to the tax fraud allegations, the 20-count indictment includes conspiracy, obstruction, mail fraud, perjury and the unlawful employment of illegal immigrants.
Between 2007 and 2010, according to the court documents, Grimm “intentionally” hired an undisclosed number of illegals and engaged “in a pattern and practice of such hireing and continued employment.”
Grimm already turned himself in this morning and there is no word yet on if he will resign or if Republican leadership will force him out.
The immigration part is pretty interesting. Grimm has called on Congress to address immigration, and the Tea Party has backed his position. But now we see that Grimm is actually one of the enablers of undocumented workers. This should come as no shock, as this sort of hypocrisy is what the Tea Party is made of.