Weldon’s Staffer’s Wife Took Money from Weldon’s Associate

The federal corruption probe of former Rep. Curt Weldon’s office is grinding on. Turns out one of the Russian businessmen the Pennsylvania Republican was promoting was giving undisclosed payments to his chief of staff’s wife.

The chief of staff, Russell Caso, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in December, but the actual source of the cash given to his wife was not identified. Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that the money came from a group called the International Exchange Group, run by Vladimir Petrosyan.

The not for profit group paid $19,000 to Caso’s wife, mostly for editing work that was never done. The Journal reports that Petrosyan, a prominent Russian with ties to the Kremlin, was a fixture around Weldon’s office on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Petrosyan, who was the “general secretary” of the group, “met frequently and sought official action from” then-Rep. Weldon, the Caso plea statement alleges. Mr. Weldon directed Mr. Caso to seek U.S. government backing for projects involving biological and chemical weapons and he “made presentations to various executive branch agencies, including to high-level officials in the Departments of State and Energy and the National Security Council.”

While in Congress, Weldon had been a big advocate of the International Exchange Group, though it’s unclear why:

Mr. Weldon, who served on the Armed Services Committee, promoted International Exchange Group, describing it in a Sept. 22, 2004, House speech as “comprised of senior [Russian] military, intelligence and political officials.” The group was “established by President Vladimir Putin’s plenipotentiary representative to the Duma…[and] includes the key people who are personally friendly with Putin,” including the deputy chief of the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB, Mr. Weldon told the House Committee on International Relations on March 9, 2005.

And in 2003, Weldon, a Russian language speaker, wrote an Op-Ed in the Moscow Times touting Petroysan as one of his key Russian allies.

People tied to Weldon have a habit of getting money from those he supports. Weldon lost his reelection bid in 2006 just a few weeks after the FBI raided his daughter’s home. She had received a $240,000 contract from a prominent Serbian family whose business interests Weldon promoted.

Weldon hasn’t faced any criminal charges. But the investigation continues. In April, he transferred $70,000 from his campaign account into his legal defense fund.

In Congress, Weldon was a bit of a loose cannon, advocating 9/11 conspiracy theories and insisting Iraq still had WMD long after the search had ended. Weldon didn’t go down quietly, accusing the group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington of concocting a conspiracy to oust him.