Rep. Bobby Rush (D., Ill.) has been ordered to pay $13,000 to the U.S. Treasury from his own pocket for improperly receiving free office space for nearly 27 years, according to the House Committee on Ethics.

Rush, who was elected to Congress in 1993, first began renting office space at the Lake Meadows Shopping Center in Chicago, Ill., in 1989 when he was serving as an Alderman in the city. Rush was under contract for a one-year lease with rent costing $1,126.49 per month.

However, Rush was not making any of the rent payments for the office space. Draper and Kramer, the company Lake Meadows had put in charge of day-to-day activities, including rent collection, attempted to get the payments from Rush, whose unpaid rent had compounded to almost $15,000 by the fall of 1990.

Despite the back payments, Draper and Kramer did not issue a letter of eviction or threaten legal action to collect the rent. Instead, the company sent Rush a letter stating his one-year lease was about to expire and that the lease would then switch over from yearly to month-to-month. Rush did not recall receiving this letter, even though it was sent to his personal residence.