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On Tuesday, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested TJ Cox, a 59-year-old Democratic Representative in California. As per Politico, Cox has been charged with a series of federal fraud-related charges.
In a statement from the Justice Department, it was announced:
“(Cox is accused of) 15 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering, one count of financial institution fraud, and one count of campaign contribution fraud.”
On Tuesday afternoon, TJ Cox pleaded not guilty to the charges.
All there is to know about TJ Cox
As per the Asian Journal, Terrance John Cox is a businessman and politician who was born in Walnut Creek, California. In 2018, he rose to prominence in Fresno due to his agriculture business and involvement in community development.
Calmatters reported that despite a failed attempt at running for the House of Representatives in 2006, he was successful in his 2018 bid against David Valadao. However, he lost to Valadao in 2020.
The San Joaquin Valley Sun noted that his 2020 loss could partly be attributed to a controversy. His campaign team admitted to fabricating a tweet, making it appear as if Valadao had written it.
The tweet read:
"California is going to hell! Vote Trump!"
The Fresno Bee reported that Fox's political career was fraught with other controversies, including accusations that claimed he had avoided paying $144000 in income taxes from 2016 to 2017. He was also accused of delaying payments owed to 3 Canadian employees at one of his companies, Constellation Mines, as he reportedly took two years to pay them their wages.
In the 2022 indictment against TJ Cox, the Department of Justice implicated him in numerous fraud schemes.
The indictment read:
"Cox created unauthorized off-the-books bank accounts and diverted client and company money into those accounts through false representations, pretenses and promises."
It continued:
"From 2013 to 2018, across two different fraud schemes, Cox illicitly obtained over $1.7 million in diverted client payments and company loans and investments he solicited and then stole."
In another alleged scheme, he supposedly used false identities to obtain a construction loan to build Fresno's, Granite Park.
The indictment read:
"Cox and his business partner’s nonprofit could not qualify for the construction loan without a financially viable party guaranteeing the loan."
It added:
"Cox falsely represented that one of his affiliated companies would guarantee the loan, and submitted a fabricated board resolution which falsely stated that at a meeting on a given date all company owners agreed to guarantee the Granite Park loan."
According to the indictment, in reality, there was no meeting. The loan subsequently defaulted, leading to a $1.28 million loss.
If convicted of the crimes, TJ Cox could face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering.
