Representative Daniel Reilly has not listed contributions from his father on his campaign finance reports, contributions the US Department of Justice found while prosecuting his father for tax evasion in Florida.
Reilly, a Republican from District 72 serving portions of Middletown and Portsmouth, has reportedly received money for both his schooling and his political campaigns from his father’s “law firm and shell corporation” that the elder Reilly is alleged to have used to illegally evade paying taxes.
His father, William J. Reilly, pled guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison and ordered to “pay more than $1.9 million in restitution.” Channel 12’s Tim White noted that William Reilly is “at the top of Rhode Island’s tax delinquent list.”
The US Department of Justice reports that from 2005 through 2010, William Reilly,
…used bank accounts for his law firm and the shell corporation to receive personal income, transfer funds into his personal accounts, and pay personal expenses directly, including his Visa credit card account, his children’s private school and college tuition, support his daughter’s equestrian business, make vehicle and mortgage payments, contribute to his son’s political campaign, and purchase more than $50,000 in tickets for sporting events and concerts.
You can read William Reilly’s plea agreement here.
The only contribution Daniel Reilly reported receiving from his father was a $500 in-kind contribution noted as “use of a recreational vehicle.” This was not a cash contribution. You can access all of Rep Reilly’s campaign contributions here.
Reilly responded in an email that, “My father never contributed any money to my campaigns and only rented an RV during my 2008 campaign for us to campaign in. I recorded that as an in-kind contribution for the amount that it was valued. I believe that was what was referred to in the press release. It was a ‘contribution’ in the sense that it is in-kind and was recorded as such, but not a cash contribution and I never received any from him.”
Daniel Reilly served two terms as District 72’s representative before being unseated by Linda Finn in 2012. He regained his seat in 2014 and Finn is challenging him again in 2016.
RI Future has reached out to House Spokesperson Larry Berman and Rep Daniel Reilly for comment. We will update.
Thank you to Paula McMahon at the Sun Sentinel for her reporting on this story.
