Bob McDonnell, Wife Charged In Gifts Case

Former Va. Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, left, and his wife Maureen McDonnell, attend a rally for McDonnell in Alexandria, Va., on Monday, Nov. 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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Days after he left office, former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and his wife, Maureen McDonnell, were charged Tuesday in federal court with illegally accepting gifts, trips, and loans from a Virginia businessman and political donor.

The indictment was filed in the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., charging them each with 13 federal crimes.

Prosecutors had spent months investigating the relationship between the McDonnell family and Jonnie Williams, the now-former CEO of an embattled dietary supplements company called Star Scientific. Williams gave McDonnell and his family more than $150,000 in gifts and payments in recent years, at the same time that McDonnell and his wife took steps to support the company.

When their ties to the businessman became a public scandal in 2013, the McDonnells returned the gifts and repaid the money given to them by Williams.

Read the indictment:

Mcdonnell Indictment

This post has been updated.

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