Ex-Rep Accused of Hiding Source of Payment in Terror Funding Case
A former Michigan congressman has been charged in connection with his ties to a Missouri group designated as a terrorist organization.
Mark Siljander, who now runs a public relations firm called Global Strategies, is accused of accepting $50,000 to lobby Congress to keep the organization off the list of terrorist groups, the Washington Post reports. The group, the Islamic American Relief Agency, shut down after it received the terrorist designation.
The indictment claims the agency stole the $50,000 paid to Siljander from the U.S. Agency for International Development. He is accused of trying to hide the source of the money and lying to FBI agents about the reason for the payment, the Post story says. His lawyer, James Hobbs, said his client denies the allegations.
Siljander was not registered as a lobbyist at the time he accepted the money, the Post story says. He was charged with money laundering, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy, the Justice Department says in a press release.
