Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Campaign Law Violator?

In 2019, conservative groups accused Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti of violating campaign finance laws. The National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, alleging that Ocasio-Cortez and her allies used a corporation to skirt campaign finance reporting laws. The complaint also alleged Ocasio-Cortez's campaign may have illegally paid her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, through a political action committee. However, Ocasio-Cortez denied the allegation, and campaign finance experts said that while the payment structure might be confusing, there was no evidence of a million-dollar scam.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's boyfriend was allegedly paid through PACs and LLCs

In 2019, a conservative group accused Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of violating campaign finance laws by allegedly paying her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, through a political action committee (PAC) during her congressional race. The Coolidge Reagan Foundation filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), claiming that the Brand New Congress PAC paid Roberts as a "marketing consultant" after being hired by Ocasio-Cortez's campaign. The foundation argued that the timing and amounts of the transactions, the use of affiliated entities as intermediaries, and the vague nature of the services provided by Roberts indicated possible violations of campaign finance law.

In response, Ocasio-Cortez denied any violation, stating that Roberts was not on her payroll and emphasizing the distinction between the PAC and the LLC. Brand New Congress also denied any wrongdoing, describing Roberts as a professional digital marketing and growth consultant. They stated that he was hired for a two-month trial period and provided legitimate services such as advertising strategies and increasing brand awareness.

While some legal experts suggested that the allegations were overblown and lacked evidence of serious legal violations, others pointed to potential issues with disclosure requirements and the need for further investigation. The FEC complaint highlighted the large payments from Ocasio-Cortez's campaign and the PACs to the LLC for "strategic consulting," raising questions about whether all the work fell under that category.

The allegations sparked debates about the complex nature of campaign finance laws and the potential for further scrutiny of Ocasio-Cortez's campaign operations.

The National Legal and Policy Center filed an FEC complaint

While Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, denied any wrongdoing, legal experts offered mixed opinions. Some experts stated that there was no evidence of serious campaign finance violations, while others believed there may be cause for further investigation. Bradley Smith, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, argued that the potential issue was the lack of adequate disclosure about how the PAC money was spent. He suggested that the LLC may have sold its services to Ocasio-Cortez's campaign at below-market rates, which would amount to an independent expenditure or in-kind contribution exceeding legal limits.

However, other experts, including Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center, dismissed the allegations as "speculative." They attributed the lack of disclosure to relatively lax laws governing reporting on payments to sub-vendors. Paul Ryan, a campaign finance expert at Common Cause, agreed that the FEC complaint did not contain sufficient evidence to satisfy the legal standard for a probe. He stated that while the PACs and campaigns are supposed to note what vendors are hired and paid for, mislabelling payments would likely be considered a minor violation by the FEC.

The LLC was created by Saikat Chakrabarti

Saikat Chakrabarti, born in 1986, is a political advisor, left-wing activist, and software engineer. He was the chief of staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. representative from New York's 14th congressional district, which covers portions of The Bronx and Queens in New York City.

Chakrabarti was born and raised in an Indian Bengali Hindu family in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended Harvard University, graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in computer science. After graduating, he worked on Wall Street and then spent six years in Silicon Valley, co-founding a web design company called Mockingbird and serving as a founding engineer at the payments processing company Stripe.

Chakrabarti first became involved in politics in 2015 when he joined Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. In the spring of 2016, Chakrabarti, alongside Alexandra Rojas and Corbin Trent, co-founded the Brand New Congress political action committee, which aimed to recruit 400 new progressive candidates for Congress. Chakrabarti and his colleagues wanted to create a central organisation that would serve as a "campaign in a box, a one-stop vendor for communications, field, online organising, fundraising, and the like".

Chakrabarti was also one of the co-founders of Justice Democrats, which specifically targeted an entrenched "corporate Democrat", Joe Crowley, and recruited Ocasio-Cortez to challenge him. Chakrabarti helped Ocasio-Cortez get her campaign off the ground, build an email list, and raise $30,000. Ocasio-Cortez went on to win the primary election, unseating the 10-term incumbent, and Chakrabarti became her campaign chair. After her general election victory, Ocasio-Cortez appointed Chakrabarti as her chief of staff.

In 2019, Chakrabarti led Ocasio-Cortez's staff and several progressive groups in writing the Green New Deal resolution, which was submitted to the House of Representatives by Ocasio-Cortez and to the Senate by Ed Markey. Chakrabarti expressed a vision of ambitious, bold policies that would show Americans what could be possible if Democrats won control of Congress and the presidency.

On August 2, 2019, Chakrabarti left Ocasio-Cortez's office to run New Consensus, a group promoting the Green New Deal. His departure led to speculation about Ocasio-Cortez potentially adopting a more moderate strategy.

The PACs and campaigns are supposed to note what the vendors are hired and paid for

The two PACs eventually paid the LLC nearly a million dollars total during the 2018 campaign cycle. Justice Democrats, which paid the LLC the bulk of that money, would take credit for electing seven new members to Congress, including Ocasio-Cortez. Her campaign paid the LLC $18,880.

The FEC complaint highlighted the large payments made from Ocasio-Cortez's campaign and the PACs to the LLC for "strategic consulting," and questioned whether all that work was actually strategic consulting or if other types of campaign activities were involved and should have been specified.

According to Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert who currently works at the nonprofit government watchdog Common Cause, FEC laws don't require transparency from vendors and sub-vendors hired by campaigns or PACs. However, he notes that the PACs and campaigns are supposed to note what the vendors are hired and paid for, and that this is where Ocasio-Cortez and her allies may have run afoul of the law.

Ryan suggests that describing a disbursement for strategy consulting is permissible, but only if that was indeed what the disbursement was for. He adds that there may be a violation in this case, but the FEC would likely treat it as a very minor issue, resulting in a small fine rather than jail time.

The LLC didn't have to list how it used the money paid to it by the PACs

The LLC was paid just under $1 million by the two PACs during the 2018 cycle for campaign services. Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez's campaign paid the LLC just under $19,000 for services. The LLC's purpose was to be a central organisation that would serve as a vendor for campaigns and PACs.

The LLC didn't have to disclose how it used the money paid to it by the PACs because the FEC doesn't require it. However, what does need to be disclosed is what PACs and campaigns hire vendors for. The FEC complaint highlighted the large payments made from Ocasio-Cortez's campaign and the PACs to the LLC for "strategic consulting," and questioned whether all that work was actually strategic consulting or if other types of campaign activities were involved and should have been specified.

While legal experts say there's no evidence that the team committed serious campaign finance violations, some say there may be cause for further investigation. Bradley Smith, a Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, said the biggest issue is that the PACs and the LLC didn't adequately disclose what they spent money on. He argued there's a possibility that the LLC sold its services to Ocasio-Cortez's campaign at below-market rates and was then reimbursed by the PACs. This, he said, would amount to an independent expenditure on behalf of the campaign or an in-kind contribution that exceeded legal limits.

However, other experts, including Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center, say the allegations are "speculative" and that there's no evidence that the PACs improperly subsidised work for the campaign. Fischer and Ryan, a campaign finance expert, say that if Ocasio-Cortez and her team did, in fact, mislabel payments (that were not "strategic consulting"), the FEC would consider that to be a minor violation that could result in a fine — not jail time.

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