Ex-Lawmaker Indicted In Bank Scandal

Former Rep. Mary Rose Oakar was indicted Wednesday on charges of lying to the FBI and using the now-defunct House bank to convert public money to her own use.

Oakar was indicted on seven counts, including conspiracy. One of her nephews, Joseph DeMio, also was indicted on a conspiracy count; another nephew, Ignatius DeMio, agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy misdemeanor.

Both nephews worked for Oakar as campaign aides in 1992.

Oakar is the third former member of Congress charged in connection with the scandal, which led to her defeat in 1992 after 16 years in the House of Representatives.

An internal House inquiry found that she had written 213 bad checks over three years. Those were among thousands of overdrafts written by lawmakers at the inhouse bank, but almost all of the other bad-check writers were cleared by a special Justice Department inquiry.