NEW YORK (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who resigned from Congress following a tax fraud conviction, is paralyzed from the chest down after being thrown from a horse during a polo tournament, according to friends who are raising funds to pay for the ex-lawmaker’s medical care.
Grimm, 54, suffered the devastating injury in September and is now being treated at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey, where the late actor Christopher Reeve was treated after a similar equestrian accident in 1995, according to Vincent Ignizio, a friend of Grimm’s who is a former New York City Council member.
Grimm had been an avid polo player for years, Ignizio said. “It was a passion of his and he suffered a tragic accident at the end of September,” said Ignizio, who has set up a GoFundMe account to pay for Grimm’s medical care.
A former Marine and FBI agent, Grimm represented Staten Island and a part of Brooklyn in Congress from 2011 to 2015.
A federal investigation into Grimm’s fundraising that started in 2012 ultimately resulted in a 20-count indictment centered on a restaurant Grimm ran in Manhattan. Prosecutors said he underreported wages and revenue to the government and filed false tax documents.
Grimm won reelection in 2014 despite the indictment but pleaded guilty the following month to one count of tax fraud. He resigned from Congress in January 2015 and served eight months in prison.
Grimm attempted a comeback in 2018 but lost a Republican primary for his old district to incumbent Rep. Dan Donovan, who then lost the general election to Democrat Max Rose.
Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis defeated Rose in 2020 and has represented the district since then.
Grimm has recently worked as a host on Newsmax.
The GoFundMe for Grimm’s medical care had raised $118,000 as of midday Monday. “His ultimate goal is to get himself to walk again,” Ignizio said.