Former Obama Cabinet member Ray LaHood resigns Lincoln Museum post after running afoul of feds over undisclosed $50,000 loan
Former U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood on Monday resigned as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, just days after federal prosecutors said he “willfully” failed to disclose a $50,000 loan from a foreign national while a member President Barack Obama’s Cabinet.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who appointed LaHood to the Springfield museum’s post in September 2019, accepted the former Peoria congressman’s resignation, said spokeswoman Emily Bittner.
“Gov. Pritzker is grateful for Mr. LaHood’s service, and especially his vision in attracting an outstanding and historic new executive director: Christina Shutt. His stewardship of the museum during this pandemic also preserved this remarkable Illinois gem,” Bittner said in statement.
Shutt, 34, was named last month as the library and museum’s fifth executive director. She is the first person of color named to the post.
Prosecutors last week said LaHood failed to disclose on mandated financial forms the loan he received through Gilbert Chagoury, a wealthy Lebanese-Nigerian businessman.
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LaHood acknowledged the loan in signing a nonprosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in the Central District of California.
Prosecutors said LaHood, 75, of Peoria, who was transportation secretary from 2009 to 2013, denied to FBI agents that he had received the loan until he was shown a copy of the check. He also did not tell agents that he knew Chagoury was the ultimate source of the loan.
The agreement was signed by LaHood in 2019 but not made public until last week.
In 2011 and 2012, the agreement said, LaHood was suffering “significant financial difficulties in part due to problems from home remediation and sought funds to conduct home repairs.”
The agreement said LaHood “willfully” failed to disclose the loan in annual financial disclosure statements because Chagoury in 2009 “was reported to have been on the U.S. ‘No Fly List’” of suspected terrorists.
Chagoury has denied being involved in terrorism and filed a lawsuit in an effort to restore his flying privileges in the U.S.
As part of the agreement, LaHood agreed to pay a $40,000 fine to the federal government as well as repaying the $50,000 loan.
Before the Republican LaHood joined the Democratic Obama administration, he represented the central Illinois 18th Congressional District from 1995 to 2009. He son, Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, currently represents the district.
