That Big Grayson Area, Con't

With all the newfound scrutiny on offshore hedge funds and tax havens thanks to the Panama Papers, it wasn't going to be long before the fallout started hitting US politicians, and the obvious choice to get roasted over this in a fit of pique is Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson.

There is “a substantial reason to believe” that U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson broke federal law and House ethics rules in connection with his offshore hedge fund and other actions in office, according to an investigative report released Tuesday.

But the House Committee on Ethics, which received the report, said the probe into Grayson requires “further review,” so it did not announce any final decision about his fate.

Investigators were initially looking into whether Grayson, D-Orlando, used his position in Congress to solicit investors to the Grayson Fund, partially based in the Cayman Islands. But the report also found possible ethical and federal law violations in his work as a lawyer, investments and the use of his office and staff.

Grayson issued a detailed rebuttal to the House Office of Congressional Ethics report in which he denied any wrongdoing. He called it “utterly frivolous” and “replete with amorphous catch-phrases like ‘reason to believe.’ It does not identify any instance where the OCE actually found an ethics violation, or any violation of law.”

Grayson, locked in heated Democratic primary campaign for the U.S. Senate, said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday that the only investors in his hedge fund were longtime friends “who were not persuaded to join the fund because I was a member of Congress.” 

 
Five gets you six that the "further review" has to do with the Panama Papers.  The Republicans despise Grayson and this is a good vehicle to go on the attack against him.

We'll see where this goes.  I know I've been critical of Grayson in the past, but any ethics committee in a US House run by the GOP is only going to be used for witch hunts against Democrats.  For this to come out 24 hours after the Panama Papers were released?  That's a hell of a coincidence.