FBI searches former Bachmann campaign associate's Iowa home

Federal agents recently searched the home of former Republican Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson and seized computers and other materials, his attorney said Wednesday.

Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigations searched Kent Sorenson's home on Nov. 20, the Des Moines Register reported Wednesday.

Sorenson's attorney, Theodore Sporer, said computers were confiscated, but that he hasn't been notified that Sorenson is the target of any investigation.

"It wasn't a `raid,'" Sporer told the newspaper. "They executed a search warrant that, frankly, we anticipated was coming."

Sorenson, who lives in Milo, resigned his Senate seat in October after an independent investigator concluded he likely broke ethics rules in receiving money from presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's political action committee and presidential campaign.

Investigator Mark Weinhardt has said Sorenson received a check from a high-ranking official in Ron Paul's presidential campaign days before he ditched Bachmann in January 2012 to back Paul, and ultimately received $73,000 in payments that may be linked to Paul's campaign.

Weinhardt concluded Sorenson likely broke ethics rules in receiving $7,500 in monthly income from Bachmann's political action committee and presidential campaign in exchange for working as Bachmann's state chair in 2011.

Weinhardt's report, which came out in October, says Sorenson received a $25,000 check from Paul's deputy national campaign manager that was never cashed. The report said Sorenson's firm soon started receiving suspicious $8,000 monthly payments.

Sorenson has said his resignation wasn't an admission of wrongdoing. No charges have been filed against him.

Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com