Michigan Rep. John Conyers, one of the most powerful Democrats in the House of Representatives and co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, settled a wrongful dismissal complaint with an employee who refused to “succumb to (Conyers’) sexual advances,” BuzzFeed reported late Monday.

According to the report, the longest serving member in Congress settled the suit back in 2015. Papers obtained from lawsuit, including four signed affidavits (three notarized) from former congressional staff members, allege a pattern of sexual harassment from the civil rights icon.

The BuzzFeed report maintains that the congressman “repeatedly made sexual advances to female staff that included requests for sexual favors, contacting and transporting other women with whom they believed Conyers was having affairs, caressing their hands sexually, and rubbing their legs and backs in public.”

The report by Paul McLeod and Lissandra Villa said the “documents also reveal the secret mechanism by which Congress has kept an unknown number of sexual harassment allegations secret: A grinding, closely held process that left the alleged victim feeling, she told BuzzFeed News, that she had no option other than to stay quiet and accept a settlement offered to her.”

“In this case,” BuzzFeed reported, “one of Conyers’ former employees was offered a settlement, in exchange for her silence, that would be paid out of Conyers’ taxpayer-funded office budget.

“His office would ‘rehire’ the woman as a ‘temporary employee’ despite her being directed not to come into the office or do any actual work, according to the document. The complainant would receive a total payment of $27,111.75 over the three months, after which point she would be removed from the payroll, according to the document.”

“I was basically blackballed. There was nowhere I could go,” the employee told BuzzFeed.

And if you thought that was the only abuse of taxpayer money in the documents, boy, were you wrong: “Two staffers alleged in their signed affidavits that Conyers used congressional resources to fly in women they believed he was having affairs with,” BuzzFeed reported. “Another said she was tasked with driving women to and from Conyers’ apartment and hotel rooms.”

The documents were originally obtained by pro-Trump media activist and conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich. He “said he gave the documents to BuzzFeed News for vetting and further reporting, and because he said if he published them himself, Democrats and congressional leaders would ‘try to discredit the story by attacking the messenger.’”

In the suit, the complainant alleged “Conyers repeatedly asked her for sexual favors and often asked her to join him in a hotel room.

“On one occasion, she alleges that Conyers asked her to work out of his room for the evening, but when she arrived the congressman started talking about his sexual desires,” BuzzFeed reported. “She alleged he then told her she needed to ‘touch it,’ in reference to his penis, or find him a woman who would meet his sexual demands.

“She alleged Conyers made her work nights, evenings, and holidays to keep him company,” they added.

The report on Conyers came one week after Democrat Rep. Jackie Speier of California revealed Congress had paid out $15 million in taxpayer money to individuals who had sued for sexual harassment, and The Washington Post later put this number at $17.2 million.

The Post had previously reported that congressional employees faced significant hurdles to making their cases public, including rules that required them to go through “extensive mediation and counseling.”

That’s likely why Conyers is one of the first congressmen to get caught in the net of sexual harassment revelations. And, with all due deference to Sen. Al Franken, the soi disant “Giant of the Senate,” Conyers is also the biggest name yet.

The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, the 88-year-old Conyers has represented the Detroit area since 1965; he’s been in politics long enough to receive the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Award directly from Martin Luther King.

The affidavits, however, paint a picture of a lecherous man whose behavior should have exiled him from the corridors of power long ago.

In one affidavit, a former employee notes that she attended a luncheon with the Michigan representative before she was under his employ, and “while the two of us were alone, I asked him about the status of my job application.

“Without saying a word, Rep. Conyers reached down and grabbed my hand and began to caress it and rub my palm (and) his fingers against my palm (in) a sexually suggestive manner.

“Regrettably, I did not stop him and when he was finished, he told me that I would be contacted by his staff regarding the position,” the affidavit continued. “A few days later I was contacted by his Chief of Staff and offered a (redacted) position within the Congressman’s office.”

The woman said that she “experienced other instances where Rep Conyers made sexual advances towards me” and that she was “personally aware of several other women who have experienced the same or similar sexual advances made towards them by Rep. Conyers.”

Another affidavit from a male staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives says that he were approached by an employee who said she was sexually harassed by Conyers, and that “this conduct included inappropriate touching as well as request(s) for sexual favors.”

“I personally witnessed Rep. John Conyers touch and rub on (redacted) legs and other parts of body in what appeared to be a sexual manner,” it continues. “In addition, I witnessed Rep. John Conyers rub the legs of other women and touch them in an inappropriate manner.”

The staffer said he confronted Conyers about his behavior.

“Rep. Conyers said he needed to be ‘more careful’ because bad publicity would not be helpful as he runs for re-election. He ended the conversation with me by saying he would ‘work on’ his behavior toward (redacted),” the affidavit read.

A statement from Conyers or his office was not forthcoming as of early Tuesday morning. In a statement to BuzzFeed, Democrat House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that she wasn’t aware of the lawsuit or settlement, but instead noted that the aforementioned Rep. Speier “has introduced legislation that will provide much-needed transparency on these agreements and make other critical reforms.”