You might not have heard of Melvin Reynolds, the former Illinois congressman who was infamously charged with having sex with one of his underaged campaign volunteers. His troubled past continued when in August of 1995 he was convicted of more than a dozen sex-related charges, including statutory rape and solicitation of child pornography, as well as bank fraud and lying to investigators. He served a five-year prison sentence until President Bill Clinton commuted his sentence in 2001.

Now he is in the news again for illegal possession of pornography in Zimbabwe, which has different laws on pornography than his home country, the United States. According to the state controlled newspaper The Herald, he brought several Zimbabwean models and other women to his hotel room where he took photographs and videos. The Herald got this information from an aide to Reynolds who said the ex-congressman shot more than 100 pornographic videos and snapped 2,000 pornographic pictures while in the company of up to 10 women and models as four personal aides kept watch. That might not have caught the attention of the Zimbabwean government had it not been for the $24,000 in bills he owed at two different hotels and overstaying his visa to Zimbabwe.

It seems that after failing to reclaim his seat in Congress in two failed attempts while running against Jesse Jackson, Jr. in 2004 and again in 2013, he had become an independent businessman working as a broker between African investors and U.S. businesses, cutting business deals in the African country such as facilitating an agreement in 2013 to build a new Hilton hotel in Harare. He reportedly saw investment opportunities there and guided a delegation of Chicago businessmen on a tour highlighting the country's commercial potential for U.S. investors.

He was quoted as saying: "I knew it was very realistic to bring Hilton Hotel here because I know what's happening in America now economically. All one needs to do is to present a project correctly. You see, from a business standpoint, there is no reason not to invest in Zimbabwe -- you are using the U.S. dollar, 95 percent literacy rate and 30 percent of the world's diamonds -- what reason would an investor have not to invest in Zimbabwe? Don't worry about the politics." Unfortunately the politics got him this time.