Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., last year refunded a $3,000 check he got in 1999 from a Texas friend, Ben Barnes, after a public interest group revealed it was improper. Now he's paid Barnes more than $1,600 in interest, according to recent filings with the Secretary of the Senate.

The filings were disclosed Monday by PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks campaign spending.

Barnes, a lobbyist and former Texas lieutenant governor, made the donation in question to a legal defense fund Reid had established to cover costs of his 1998 Senate race recount, which he won by 428 votes over Republican John Ensign.

Congressional ethics rules prohibit registered lobbyists from donating to lawmakers' legal defense funds, which members of Congress are allowed to set up to pay for legal fights. Barnes had only recently registered as a lobbyist and said at the time that it was an innocent mistake.