The former Labour and independent MP Jared O’Mara has been charged with seven counts of fraud. O’Mara will appear in court next month alongside former aide Gareth Arnold, who is charged with six counts of the same offence Another man, John Woodliff, is being jointly charged with O’Mara with an offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Rosemary Ainslie, the head of special crime at the Crown Prosecution Service, said this related to an allegation they made “fraudulent invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority in 2019”. She said the decision to charge the three men was made “after reviewing a file of evidence from South Yorkshire police”. O’Mara was elected as a Labour MP to the Sheffield Hallam constituency – beating its previous incumbent, Nick Clegg – but he lost the whip several months later. He then got the whip back but resigned from it himself, choosing to sit as an independent for more than a year until the 2019 election, when he did not stand. O’Mara, 39, and Arnold, 28, have been charged with fraud by false representation, contrary to section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006. Woodliff, 42, and O’Mara were also jointly charged with an offence of entering into an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition of criminal property, contrary to section 328 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. They will all appear at Sheffield magistrates court on 24 September 2021.