RALEIGH -- The United States Department of Justice will allow the prosecution of one-time presidential candidate and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards for the alleged misuse of campaign funds, according to numerous news outlets.

Should an indictment come down, it could center on possibility that campaign funds were used to support and hide Rielle Hunter, a one-time campaign videographer with whom Edwards had an affair. Edwards also fathered a child, now 3-years old, with Hunter.

ABC11 and other news outlets are reporting Edwards is reviewing his legal options after having been informed by the U.S. Justice Department that the case against him will go forward.

The case has been investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District, in North Carolina. That office's work product against Edwards has been under review by the Justice Department in Washington during recent months.

Earlier this month, Edwards hired former White House Counsel Greg Craig to add to his North Carolina based legal team of Wade Smith and John Cooney.

Former Edwards aide Andrew Young has said he was tasked by the presidential campaign with keeping Hunter and her daughter out of the spotlight. When the existence of the child was discovered, Young initially claimed he was the father. Young has said much of the money used to support and hide Hunter came from millionaire heiress Bunny Mellon.

In December, relatives of the 100-year-old heiress appeared before a federal grand jury in Raleigh.

Earlier this year, federal investigators interviewed the Bunny Mellon at her Virginia estate. And in March, ABC 11 reports Young met with federal prosecutors in Washington D.C.