Less than a month after he was back in the news with another sexting scandal that led his wife Huma Abedin to file for divorce, former Congressman Anthony Weiner faces what could be some very serious legal problems:
Federal authorities in New York have issued a subpoena for records pertaining to allegations that Anthony D. Weinerexchanged sexually explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Mr. Weiner was the subject of an article on Wednesday in The Daily Mail, a British newspaper, that said he had an online correspondence with the girl beginning in January that included suggestive texts and explicit messages sent over social media.
According to The Daily Mail, the girl, who was not identified, said she did not want to press charges “because she believes her relationship with Weiner was consensual.” Still, she and her father agreed to be interviewed out of concern for other underage girls, the publication reported.
It was not clear which records investigators in the office of the United States attorney, Preet Bharara, would subpoena. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department said it was investigating Mr. Weiner but did not elaborate.
Some of the reports that have come out regarding Weiner’s contact with the fifteen year old girl in question have included the allegation that he sent her sexually explicit material, that he induced her into sending him nude or semi-nude pictures of herself and sent himself to her, and that he engaged in a long series of sexually explicit communication with her even after she told him she was fifteen years old. Even if Weiner were to now claim that he didn’t really believe she was underage and assumed the person he was corresponding with was actually an adult roleplaying as a teenager, he could still face serious charges under Federal and state law that could result in him being sentenced to ten years or more in prison.
In any case, this is yet another in a long list of allegations against this guy that seems to make it clear that he’s got a serious problem. 0
