D'Esposito embroiled in allegations he put ex-girlfriend on payroll

WASHINGTON — Rep. Anthony D’Esposito on Tuesday pushed back against a New York Times report that alleges he put both an ex-girlfriend and the daughter of his longtime fiancee on his congressional payroll, as Democrats called for further investigation into whether he crossed House ethics rules.

D’Esposito (R-Island Park), who is in a competitive race against Democrat Laura Gillen for New York’s 4th Congressional District, told Newsday "nothing has been done wrong," when approached outside of his congressional office on Capitol Hill.

Asked if he denied the claims, D'Esposito labeled the article "political mudslinging." He later told reporters outside the House of Representatives chambers that "there was nothing done that was not ethical."

Asked by a reporter if he gave "your mistress a job," D'Esposito said: "I did not."

The Times on Monday reported that D’Esposito had an affair with a married woman and later gave her a $2,000-a-month part-time job at his Garden City district office. The report also indicates D’Esposito gave a $3,800-a-month job to the daughter of his longtime fiancee at the same office.

The Times cited three unnamed sources who it said were familiar with the extramarital affair between D’Esposito and Devin Faas, and cited her ex-husband who said the affair led to their divorce.

Payroll reports obtained by Newsday confirm that Faas received $7,400 in wages from April 1, 2023, through July 21, 2023.

The Times report also notes that Tessa Lark, the daughter of D’Esposito’s longtime fiancee Cynthia Lark, also worked for his district office.

Payroll reports show Tessa Lark received $20,258 in wages from Jan. 3, 2023, to June 30, 2023.

Faas and the Larks could not immediately be reached for comment at phone numbers listed for all three that Newsday called Tuesday.

The code of conduct for House members states that they cannot employ relatives, including a stepchild. It also bars lawmakers from engaging "in a sexual relationship with any employee of the House" who is not their spouse. 

Two ethics experts and three ethics attorneys said D’Esposito may have violated the spirit of the code of conduct but said the House Ethics Committee would have to determine whether he violated the actual letter of the ethics rules.

The experts and attorneys said D’Esposito’s hiring of Faas while they allegedly had a sexual relationship likely would violate House ethics rules because the code specifically prohibits relationships with staff members.

"If it is true that he's engaged in a sexual relationship, then yes, it clearly violates the rules," said Dan A. Schwager, a former staff director and chief counsel for the House Ethics Committee. "We don’t know for certain, but that's what an investigation is for."

Schwager added that D’Esposito could face a much more serious issue if Faas never showed up for work. "If, in fact, it is a no-show job, then that can even become criminal," he told Newsday. "That could be investigated by the FBI or the U.S. Attorney's Office."

D’Esposito, a former NYPD detective and Hempstead Town councilman, flipped the 4th District seat that was long held by Democrats in 2022. Both parties have poured money and resources into the district this year, viewing it as a key seat to winning the House majority in November. President Donald Trump held a rally last week in the district, at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, in what was widely regarded by local Republican leaders as a get-out-the vote effort not only for Trump but also for D’Esposito.

Gillen, in a statement on Tuesday, said: "These are very serious allegations that demand further investigation." 

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Ellie Dougherty said in a statement that D’Esposito abused his position and that "Nassau County families’ pocketbooks have paid the price."

"Long Island has already suffered from one shady congressman," Dougherty said, invoking expelled former Republican Rep. George Santos. The former representative of New York’s 3rd Congressional District, spanning Nassau County and Queens, was ousted from the House last year over a host of ethical violations.

Nassau GOP chairman Joe Cairo defended D’Esposito, calling the report "politically motivated and baseless mudslinging."

"Congressman Anthony D'Esposito refuses to be distracted from his mission of fixing the border crisis and providing real tax relief for Long Islanders," Cairo said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson declined to weigh in on the report when asked about it at a Tuesday news conference on Capitol Hill, saying he was unaware of the details and had not had the chance to speak with D’Esposito.

"He's been a very strong advocate for his district. I've been up there a lot. I know the people of his district, and they are great champions of him, and he of them," said Johnson, who has held fundraisers alongside D’Esposito and other New York House Republicans over the past year.

An ethics complaint against D'Esposito was filed Tuesday with the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent, nonpartisan group created by the House to review allegations of misconduct by its members. The complaint was filed by the Congressional Integrity Project, a political group that targets Republican lawmakers with alleged ethical violations.

The group in its complaint asks the office to launch an investigation into D'Esposito, whom the group contends "violated the public trust and acted in violation of the House Rules and U.S. House Committee on Ethics guidance."

Ethics attorneys disagreed on whether D’Esposito’s hiring of his fiancee’s daughter violated the code of conduct.

"I think it is probably implicated in the antinepotism rules under House rules and standards of conduct," said Stanley Brand, a former House counsel and longtime ethics attorney.

But Brett Kappel, a Washington-based government ethics attorney, and Schwager told Newsday the allegation could be harder to prove because the rule explicitly lists the relatives that cannot be hired.

"The hiring of Tessa Lark is a closer question because the relevant rule only defines 'relative' to include stepchildren, but not the children of one’s fiancee," Kappel said in an email. "The House Ethics Committee tends to interpret the Code of Conduct as narrowly as possible."

With Candice Ferrette

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com,tom.brune@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa,

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.