Pete Sessions to Ponzi schemer Stanford: "I love you" UPDATE

Apparently Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, was a lot closer to alleged Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford than he's let on — so close, in fact, that he reportedly sent Stanford an I-love-you-man e-mail on the day Stanford was busted by federal officials.

"I love you and believe in you,'' wrote Sessions in an e-mail sent on Feb. 17, according to the Miami Herald. "If you want my ear/voice — e-mail."

It was signed "Pete," according to the paper, which was leaked e-mail found on Stanford's computer.

[The story.]

UPDATE: Three days later, Sessions' spokeswoman claimed Sessions didn't personally know the Texas-bred financier, who lavished lawmakers with junkets and fancy dinners as he built a fraudulent $8 billion empire. She later admitted they had a professional relationship.

Glenn Thrush is senior staff writer at Politico Magazine.