Former Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood took $50,000 from a foreigner without disclosing the funds, violating government ethics rules, the Department of Justice said Wednesday. LaHood, 75, was a Cabinet member during the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013. Before that, he was a Republican member of Congress. LaHood was “suffering significant financial difficulties” due to issues with his house and sought a loan to cover repairs needed, according to a non-prosecution agreement he reached with the government. In 2012 he received a $50,000 personal check from Toufic Joseph Baaklini, an associate of Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury. LaHood understood that the money came from Chagoury but, in violation of ethics rules, did not disclose the check on government ethics forms because he “did not want to be associated with Chagoury,” the Department of Justice said in a statement. LaHood in 2017 made misleading statements to FBI agents investigating Chagoury about the check and its …