Joe Waldholtz, the ex-husband of a former Utah congresswoman disgraced by a fund-raising scandal, will not be fined for illegally funneling money to his wife's campaign, the Federal Election Commission announced.
Waldholtz, who admitted to taking the father of former GOP Rep. Enid Greene for almost $4 million, served 21 months in federal prison for bank, election and tax fraud."I'm just really sorry that everyone had to go through this," Waldholtz said Thursday. "I caused a lot of pain for a lot of people. I look forward to the day when this is all way in the past."
The FEC said that Waldholtz illegally shifted $1.8 million of Forrest Greene's money to his daughter's successful 1994 election campaign. In his role as campaign treasurer, he also falsified campaign reports and added "ghost contributors" to inflate campaign figures, the report said Thursday.
But because Waldholtz has been ordered to repay his former father-in-law in full and is deep in debt, he will not be penalized further, the FEC ruled.
"As Joseph Waldholtz was criminally convicted and incarcerated for the activity at issue, and recognizing his continued confinement, his outstanding debts and limited financial ability, the commission will forgo the payment of a civil penalty," the report reads.
In May, the commission ordered Enid Greene, who has quit her Salt Lake legal practice to spend more time with her parents and 4-year-old daughter, to pay a $100,000 fine. Green called it "a stupid tax."
She said Thursday that she's not surprised her ex-husband didn't face a similar fine considering what he owes others.
"They would have just sent good money after bad," said Greene, 41.
The former congresswoman still maintains she did not know what her husband was doing and said she may get back into politics someday. She is currently an officer for a group of professional Republican women and plans to head a county convention next spring.
The scandal broke open in November 1995 when Waldholtz vanished for five days and Greene dropped her re-election bid and filed for divorce after two years of marriage.
Like any contributor, Forrest Greene, 79, could donate no more than $1,000 to any campaign for federal office. He apparently didn't know that $1.8 million of his money was going straight to his daughter's campaign.
The elder Greene sent 24 checks or wire transfers to Waldholtz, who borrowed the money for personal reasons and promised to repay it from a $300 million family fortune that never existed. He even claimed to have sold a fictitious $2.2 million property in Pittsburgh, and assigned half the profit to his father-in-law.
The FEC's agreement says Waldholtz then "knowingly and willfully misreported" 80 contributions worth $1.8 million to his wife's 1994 and 1996 campaigns, mostly to the former.
"There aren't enough times that I can say I'm sorry," said Waldholtz, 36, who has moved from his home in Boston to be closer to his parents but did not want to discuss his job or personal life. He did boast that he has lost nearly 300 pounds and was able to laugh recently when a Salt Lake City transplant recognized him at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.
He also said he has lost his drive for politics but might like to participate again "some day way in the future."
"At some point you just put one foot in front of the other and try to go forward," Waldholtz said.