Rostenkowski arranged a special legislative exemption that allowed Presidential Towers to be built with cheap government financing. One of the developers happened to be a guy who was managing Rostenkowski's personal finances and who had turned a $200 investment into a profit of more than $50,000.
...
The 17-count indictment returned against Rostenkowski in 1994 by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia alleged he had stolen $695,000 in taxpayer and campaign funds over many years through a series of frauds.
Perhaps the most damning of these -- and the root of the investigation -- was an allegation Rostenkowski had pocketed $49,300 in cash from bogus stamp transactions through the House Post Office. The House postmaster was prepared to testify he not only allowed Rostenkowski to convert his stamp allowance to cash but that Rostenkowski had instructed him before testifying to a grand jury: "Remember, I always got my stamps."
The largest alleged theft -- more than $500,000 -- involved 14 people Rostenkowski put on his congressional payroll who did little or no work for the public but performed personal services for him.
These included everyone from a Chicago Fire Department lieutenant who was paid for taking photographs at the wedding of the congressman's daughter to a godson who was paid for mowing the lawn at the Rostenkowskis' Wisconsin summer home to a city carpenter who supervised the renovation of his Chicago house. One employee, a former Rostenkowski son-in-law, alleged he was required to kick back most of his salary in cash to the congressman.
...Rostenkowski bought three cars for himself using his congressional expense allowance by disguising them as leases for "mobile offices." Prosecutors said the cars cost taxpayers $73,500.
The fourth prong of the case involved Rostenkowski billing $42,200 to his congressional expense account for gifts to friends, including chairs, luggage and china bearing the official congressional seal. We heard we did a better job than the FBI in tracking down the loot.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/brown/2591614,CST-NWS-brown12.article
