A McGuireWoods legal team won the dismissal of all criminal charges against former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois, ending a long-running and highly publicized federal case focused on Schock’s alleged misuse of campaign and government funds.
The dismissal was part of a deferred prosecution agreement in which authorities agreed to drop charges against Schock when the former congressman reimburses his campaign fund and pays federal back taxes. The deal was announced during a March 6 hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The case dates to 2016, when a government investigation into Schock’s spending led to a 24-count indictment alleging he improperly used congressional and campaign funds and filed false tax returns and campaign committee reports. Schock, who resigned from Congress in 2015, denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty.
“We knew all along if we got this case in front of reasonable prosecutors it would not stand up,” said George J. Terwilliger III, a former deputy U.S. attorney general who led the McGuireWoods team representing Schock. “The vast majority of federal prosecutors do the right thing for the right reasons — this was the wrong case for the wrong reasons and it is gratifying to me to help fix that.”
The McGuireWoods team also included partners Robert J. Bittman, Christina Egan and Benjamin Hatch and associates Rebecca Gantt and Nathan Pittman. All are members of the firm’s nationally recognized Government Investigations & White Collar Litigation Department. The team also included Mark Hubbard, a McGuireWoods Consulting senior vice president who handled communications for Schock.
“I am very pleased this case is concluding,” Schock said in a statement. “It dragged on for more than four years and I am ready to put this behind me and move forward.”
He added, “I am very grateful to my legal team, led by George Terwilliger, who believed in my innocence and fought for the cause of justice.”
McGuireWoods ranked among the world’s premier investigations firms in the GIR 100, a guide to leading cross-border investigations practices based on independent research by Global Investigations Review. Law360 also has named McGuireWoods’ Government Investigations & White Collar Litigation Department a “Practice Group of the Year.”