INDIANAPOLIS | The board of the Office of Congressional Ethics voted unanimously Thursday to give the U.S. Department of Justice some of the evidence it collected in its investigation of whether several members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., traded government appropriations for campaign contributions.

Visclosky has been accused of helping clients of the now-defunct PMA lobbying firm get multimillion-dollar federal spending earmarks in exchange for campaign contributions. The PMA group was Visclosky's top fundraising source for several years.

The 13-term congressman has denied any wrongdoing.

Following an investigation, the nonpartisan, independent Office of Congressional Ethics found there was probable cause to believe Visclosky "solicited or accepted contributions or other items of value in exchange for or because of an official act."

However, the House Committee on Standards of Professional Conduct, consisting of 10 members of the House, ended its separate investigation in February and said Visclosky and six other representatives tied to the PMA group had not violated any House rules.

Thursday's decision by the Office of Congressional Ethics to give its evidence to the Justice Department could assist a separate ongoing criminal investigation into Visclosky's actions on behalf of PMA group clients.

U.S. Reps. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Paul Hodes, D-N.H., had asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to publicly release all its evidence from its PMA investigation. Spokesman Jon Steinman said the office will not do so to avoid "the risk of prejudice to any pending criminal investigation."

In a statement, Visclosky said of the latest developments, "I am a strong proponent of transparency in the legislative process and in any instance where a member, staffer, lobbyist, contractor or anyone, for that matter, participated in inappropriate or illegal activities, they should be fully investigated."