Former Edwards adviser says he made payments to Hunter, Young

(CNN) - Fred Baron, the finance chairman for the John Edwards presidential campaign, said in a Friday statement that he paid to help the woman Edwards had an extramarital affair with, and the former aide who was the alleged father of her child, move out of the former North Carolina senator’s home state.

“I decided independently to help two friends and former colleagues rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to move forward on their own,” he said of his efforts to aid Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young.

“I did this of my own volition without the instruction or suggestion of anyone, and made a conscious decision not to tell anyone, including John Edwards, that assistance was provided,” he added. “The assistance was offered and accepted without condition. This is now and shall always remain a private matter between these individuals and me.”

Hunter and Young lived separately at an upscale development in Chapel Hill, and later in Santa Barbara, California.