By Steven Lemongello From Orlando Sentinel

Patrick Murphy is hitting Alan Grayson again at his most sensitive point – Grayson’s hedge fund.

The House ethics investigation into Grayson, D-Orlando, has been a thorn in his side in the midst of his race with U.S. Rep. Murphy, D-Jupiter, for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.

An Office of Congressional Ethics report released in April alleged that here is “a substantial reason to believe” that Grayson broke federal law and House ethics rules in connection with his Cayman Islands hedge fund, his work as a lawyer, investments and the use of his office and staff.

The House Committee on Ethics, which received the report, said the probe required “further review,” and did not announce any final decision.

 

The report alleged that Grayson permitted the use of his name by his hedge fund and profited from management fees, which Grayson attorney Brett Kappel denied.

Grayson has continued to deny any wrongdoing, and this month has lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and MSNBC host Joy Reid for mentioning or bringing up the investigation.

On Wednesday, Murphy’s campaign highlighted several details in the report to allege that Grayson lied about receiving a management fee for running the fund.

An email from Grayson to former spokesman Todd Jurkowski in 2011 states, “I think that both the fee and the allocation will generate substantial revenue.”

In an interview with office manager Carla Coleman, Coleman states that Grayson asked to be paid $4,079 in management fees plus $200,000 in an incentive fee allocation. That was transferred from a brokerage account to the fund, “and then Alan would take his money from there.”

“This is just another blatant lie from Hedge Fund Manager Alan Grayson, whose aversion to the truth is astounding, and is exactly why Floridians don’t trust him,” said Murphy spokesman Joshua Karp.

“Grayson’s attempts to distance himself from the same hedge fund he started, named after himself, and got paid for are ridiculous and Florida voters deserve to know the full truth about his shady Cayman Islands funds.”

Grayson has issued a detailed rebuttal to the House Office of Congressional Ethics report in which he denied any wrongdoing, calling it “utterly frivolous” and “replete with amorphous catch-phrases like ‘reason to believe.’ It does not identify any instance where the OCE actually found an ethics violation, or any violation of law.”

IMAGE: FILE- In this Oct. 14, 2015 file photo, Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, speaks in Tallahassee (Steve Cannon / Associated Press)

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