WASHINGTON — Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who until his recent troubles was one of the House’s most powerful members, was found guilty Tuesday of breaking 11 separate congressional rules related to his personal finances and his fundraising efforts for a New York college.

The eight-lawmaker subcommittee that handled the trial – and reached a unanimous verdict on 10 of the counts – will now send the case to the full ethics committee for the equivalent of sentencing. Potential punishments include a formal reprimand or censure, with either of those needing to be ratified by a vote on the House floor. Expulsion is possible but is considered highly unlikely.

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Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., could face a formal reprimand or censure by the full ethics committee, which the House would have to ratify. The Associated Press

The full committee will begin considering Rangel’s punishment Thursday.

Rangel was not present for the ruling. He walked out of the trial Monday after the panel rejected his request to delay the proceedings because he had spent $2 million on his defense and had no campaign money left to pay for a legal team.

He released a statement blasting the decision. “How can anyone have confidence in the decision of the Ethics Subcommittee when I was deprived of due process rights, right to counsel and was not even in the room?” it said. “I can only hope that the full Committee will treat me more fairly, and take into account my entire 40 years of service to the Congress.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who chaired the trial, praised her colleagues for their handling of the case, which landed uncomfortably in their laps in July after talks with Rangel over a plea deal broke down.

“This has been a difficult assignment, time consuming, and we have approached our duties diligently,” Lofgren said.

The trial subcommittee, divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, essentially ratified all but one of the original 13 charges filed against Rangel by an investigative panel in July.

A collection of infractions related to four central elements of the case: that Rangel improperly used his congressional staff and official letterhead to raise seven-figure donations for a college wing named in his honor; violated New York City rules by housing his political committees in his rent-controlled apartments in Harlem; did not pay taxes on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic; and did not properly disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal financial assets.

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