Washington, June 4 (IANS/EFE) Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was indicted Friday on charges that money donated to his failed campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination was used instead to conceal an extramarital affair.
A federal grand jury in North Carolina charged the 57-year-old Edwards with conspiracy, illegal campaign contributions and making false statements, the Justice Department said.
Edwards is accused of having used campaign contributions from two wealthy donors to support mistress Rielle Hunter and the couple's now three-year-old daughter.
The Democrats' 2004 vice presidential nominee and veteran trial lawyer refused to consider a plea bargain because he is determined to preserve his law license, sources close to the case said.
"Edwards is alleged to have accepted more than $900,000 in an effort to conceal from the public facts that he believed would harm his candidacy," Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's criminal division, said in a statement.
Prosecutors say the large sum came from just two donors, violating the $2,300 limit on individual federal campaign contributions.
The indictment is based on the Federal Elections Commission's ruling in 2000 that any donation to a candidate for national office should be considered a campaign contribution.
"John Edwards will tell the court he is innocent of all charges and will plead not guilty," defense attorney Gregory Craig said after the indictment was announced. "He did not break the law and will mount a vigorous defense."
Edwards faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the six counts in the indictment.
The former senator, who flatly denied the affair with Hunter when the National Enquirer first reported it in October 2007, subsequently acknowledged the liaison and that Frances Quinn Hunter was his daughter.
His January 2010 admission of paternity prompted wife Elizabeth Edwards to announce a legal separation from her husband of 33 years.
Elizabeth Edwards died last December from cancer that was diagnosed Nov 3, 2004.