Audit: Improper spending by lawmaker ousted over sex scandal

(AP) — A Tennessee Republican who was drummed out of the state House amid a series of sexual harassment allegations that earned him the nickname "Pants Candy" now faces an audit that claims he spent campaign funds on restaurant meals, alcohol and landscaping at his home.

[...] Durham's campaign loaned $120,000 at a 5 percent interest rate to Life Watch Pharmacy, a company owned by Andy Miller Jr., a prominent GOP donor who once bankrolled a European trip for state lawmakers to show them what he called the perils of radical Islam.

[...] his increasingly erratic behavior and mounting sexual harassment allegations finally caught up with him when the chamber voted 70-2 to expel him in September.

The ouster vote came after Durham had already lost his primary, but it was needed to keep him from qualifying for state pension benefits upon reaching retirement age.

The subpoenas indicated that the jurors were investigating "possible violations of federal criminal laws involving, but not necessarily limited to, bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud."