A Republican congressman from New York may have violated House ethics rules after hiring both a woman he had an affair with and his fiancée’s daughter as staff members in his office, the New York Times reported Monday.

Representative Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) comes from a family of local Republican officeholders, and his breakthrough into politics was due in part to his ties to a group of powerful Republicans in Nassau County who are known for involving their friends and family in local government.

He appears to have followed this tradition as a legislator. In 2022, D’Esposito hired his fiancée’s daughter as a special assistant in his district office, paying her about $3,000 a month. He later hired a woman He had an affair with Devin Faas and put her on the payroll of the same district office. Faas was paid $2,000 for a part-time job, but the payments stopped when D’Esposito’s fiancée found out about the affair, four sources told The Times.

Employing both women cost taxpayers about $29,000.

The House of Representatives prohibits its members from employing family members or spouses, and members are also prohibited from engaging in sexual relations with an employee under their supervision, potentially putting D’Esposito in violation of the House Code of Conduct.

“A member, delegate or resident commissioner shall not engage in a sexual relationship with a House employee who is working under the supervision of the member, delegate or resident commissioner,” the code states.

D’Esposito told the New York Post that his personal life “never interfered” with his work as a congressman. He did not deny having hired either woman.

“The latest political tabloid garbage circulating in the New York Times is nothing more than a slimy, partisan ‘smear article’ designed to distract Long Islanders from the Democrats’ poor record on border security, the economy and foreign policy,” D’Esposito told the New York Post.

In November, the congressman is expected to face Democrat Laura Gillen. In 2020, Biden won the district – which stretches from Queens to the South Shore of Long Island – by 14 points. But in 2022, the normally blue district flipped red and elected D’Esposito.