New York Republican Congressman Anthony D’Esposito is in hot water after bombshell allegations that he had an affair with a woman and then put her on his taxpayer-funded payroll.
According to the New York Times, the 42-year-old first-term lawmaker was having an affair with Devin Faas. It attributed news of the relationship to four people familiar with it.
Last April, Faas started receiving $2,000 a month for a part-time job in his district office.
The job came soon after D’Esposito also hired his longtime fiancée’s daughter to work as a special assistant in that same district office shortly after he took office, the New York Times also reported. Her salary was eventually bumped up to $3,800 a month.
The report suggests the move putting both his mistress and his fiancée’s daughter on the taxpayer funded payroll is in possible violation of House ethics rules.
It comes as the congressman is facing a looming election in a district that went for Biden in 2020 and could help decide the majority in the House.
The payments to both women stopped abruptly a few months later in the summer of 2023, the New York Times reports.
According to the four people familiar with the relationship, that’s around the time D’Esposito’s fiancée found out about the affair with Faas and briefly broke up with him.
His employment of the two women resulted in payment of $29,000 in taxpayer money, which could result in disciplinary action in the House experts told the Times.
DailyMail.com reached out to the congressman’s office by phone and email for comment but did not immediately hear back.
A spokesperson for the congressman did not deny the affair to the New York Times and declined to comment on the employment of the women.
‘We do not comment on personnel matters,’ Matt Capp said.
He stated the congressman ‘remains focused on fighting for real issues that impact Long Islanders, like securing our borders and ending the affordability crisis.’
When Faas was contacted by the New York Times, she responded ‘no thank you’ and hung up the phone.
The New York Times confirmed the affair with three people as well as Faas’ ex-husband Derek Ciaschi, who said the affair ended his marriage.
It also reviewed text messages from 2022 that appeared to show D’Esposito and Faas exchanging love notes and coordinating meet-ups while he was running for Congress.
‘Love you till Monday,’ Faas wrote in one text. D’Esposito replied ‘so much.’
D’Esposito is a first-term lawmaker who has represented New York’s fourth congressional district on Long Island since the beginning of 2023. Before being elected to Congress, he was a member of the Hempstead Town Council.
He reportedly began the relationship with Faas, a married 38-year-old secretary for the Town of Hempstead, in 2021. According to her ex-husband, the affair ended the marriage, and their divorce played out in the final months of the 2022 campaign.
The congressman’s longtime fiancée, Cynthia Lark, who he had been with since around 2010 told the New York Times the affair was a ‘very hurtful time in my life’ but said their relationship was a ‘family matter.’
Biden won the Long Island district by fourteen points in 2020 before D’Esposito won it in 2022 by less than four points.
He faces a rematch with Democrat Laura Gillen in November.