WASHINGTON — Embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel spent huge amounts of campaign cash in the last quarter of 2009 on lawyers to fend off congressional ethics investigations, campaign-finance reports show.

The Harlem Democrat dropped $575,000 on five teams of lawyers since Oct. 1 — the lion’s share of the $687,000 he spent that quarter.

It’s far more than the $354,694 Rangel’s campaign says he raised during that three-month span.

For the past year, the House ethics panel has been probing Rangel’s use of congressional letterhead to raise money for a center that bears his name at City College; his failure to report or pay taxes on rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic; and his deal for four rent-stabilized apartments at Lenox Terrace in Harlem.