<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"After turning down the opportunity to reach a plea agreement, former North Carolina senator John Edwards was indicted Friday morning on six counts: one count of conspiracy, four counts of illegal contributions, and one count of false statements. If convicted, he could face five years in prison and six-figure fines.\r\n\r\nThe charges date back to August 2008, when the 57-year-old admitted to having an extramarital affair with his mistress, Rielle Hunter, 47, with whom admitted fathering a daughter with in 2010. The Democrat has since been involved in a two-year jury investigation about whether he allegedly used more than $900,000 in campaign funds to hide his extramarital affair in order to protect his reputation and bid.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;As this indictment shows, we will not permit candidates for high office to abuse their special ability to access the coffers of their political supporters to circumvent our election laws,&amp;quot; said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lanny Breuer in a statement.\r\nThe New York Times writes, &amp;quot;Mr. Edwards has maintained that he used the money to hide the affair, but for private purposes -- to conceal it from his wife.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nThe scandal caused Edwards and his wife, the late Elizabeth Edwards, to separate in 2008. They never officially divorced. Elizabeth passed away in December 2010 at age 61 after a six-year battle with breast cancer.&amp;#xA0;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/john-edwards-indicted-for-using-campaign-funds-to-hide-affair-201136>