Vargas scandal

The Vargas scandal was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of U.S. President Walt Whitman in 2015. The scandal stemmed from the Vice President Tom Walker continuous attempts to cover up the misdeeds and fraud of his friend, the chair of the head of the Republican party of Nevada, Julius Vargas.

Vargas was the head of the Nevada Republican Party, and who helped the Whitman campaign during the 2012 Presidential election. Vargas was initially investigated for allegedly cheating on his wife, but during the investigation he was revealed to have committed Tax Fraud an Tax evasion and was arrested. As the press and the U.S. Justice Department connected that Vargas has an off shore account in the Cayman Islands, they also found money in Vargas's home which turned out to be from the Nevada Republican Party.

Further investigations, along with revelations during subsequent trial of the Vargas, led the U.S. House of Representatives to grant its judiciary committee additional investigation authority to probe into "certain matters within its jurisdiction", and the U.S. Senate to create a special investigative committee. The resulting Senate Vargas hearings were broadcast nationwide. Witnesses testified that Vargas had committed fraud, tax evasion, and tax fraud. The Whitman administration was heavily scrutinised for their cover up of Vargas, and their close relationship during the 2012 election. The scandal resulted in Vargas being sent to prison, and a sharp fall for the approval ratings of the President (49%-14%) and Vice President (43%-8%), and was a major factor in Vice President Walker resigning.