Aoc's Campaign Finance: Legal Or Unlawful?

In 2019, conservative groups accused US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, of violating campaign finance laws. The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) alleged that Ocasio-Cortez's team funnelled PAC money through a corporation to evade campaign finance laws, specifically by using two affiliated political action committees to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars into a limited-liability company. However, most election law experts say there is no evidence of serious campaign finance violations by Ocasio-Cortez or Chakrabarti, although there may be cause for further investigation into potential inadequate disclosure of expenses.

AOC's team funneled PAC money through a corporation to evade campaign finance laws

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her congressional campaign team have been accused of violating campaign finance laws. The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative group, filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) alleging that Ocasio-Cortez and her allies funnelled money from political action committees (PACs) into a limited liability company (LLC) to evade campaign finance reporting laws. The complaint claims that this was an "extensive off-the-books operation" and that Ocasio-Cortez and her team were aware of its illegal nature.

The allegations centre around the use of two PACs, Brand New Congress PAC and Justice Democrats, and an LLC, Brand New Congress LLC, created by Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti. During the 2018 campaign cycle, the two PACs paid the LLC a total of almost $1 million, while Ocasio-Cortez's campaign paid the LLC just under $19,000. The PACs and the LLC were used to recruit, support, and campaign for congressional candidates.

While Ocasio-Cortez and her team have denied any wrongdoing, legal and campaign finance experts say that while the payment structure is confusing, there is no evidence of self-dealing or an elaborate scam. They argue that the lack of transparency in the payments to the LLC is due to relatively lax laws governing reporting on payments to sub-vendors. However, they note that the PACs and campaigns are supposed to disclose what the vendors are hired and paid for, and this is where Ocasio-Cortez and her team may have potentially violated the law.

The FEC complaint highlights that the large payments made to the LLC for "strategic consulting" may not accurately reflect the nature of the work performed. Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert, stated that this particular issue could merit an FEC investigation and, if a violation is found, could result in a small fine but not jail time.

AOC illegally paid her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, through PACs and an LLC

In 2019, a conservative activist group, the Coolidge-Reagan Foundation, accused US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) of violating campaign finance laws by paying her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, through a political action committee (PAC). The foundation alleged that the PAC paid Roberts $3,000 on August 9, 2017, and that less than three weeks later, on August 27, 2017, Ocasio-Cortez's campaign committee paid the PAC $6,191.32 for "strategic consulting." The foundation further claimed that the PAC paid Roberts an additional $3,000 the following month, again designating him as a "marketing consultant."

The Coolidge-Reagan Foundation argued that Ocasio-Cortez's campaign may have violated campaign finance laws, citing the timing and amounts of the transactions, the use of two affiliated entities as intermediaries, the vague nature of the services provided by Roberts, and the romantic relationship between Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts. They asserted that the true intent of the payment to Roberts was to provide a personal benefit to Ocasio-Cortez's boyfriend rather than defray bona fide campaign expenses.

In response to the allegations, Ocasio-Cortez's office did not immediately provide a comment. However, Brand New Congress PAC, the organisation through which the payments were made, denied any wrongdoing. They stated that Roberts is a professional digital marketing and growth consultant who was hired through a two-month trial period beginning on August 3, 2017, and that he provided services related to advertising strategies, developing metrics, and aiding in the execution of strategies to increase brand awareness for the PAC.

While most election law experts dismissed the allegations against Ocasio-Cortez as overblown, some legal experts suggested that there may be cause for further investigation into the transactions. It is important to note that the allegations against Ocasio-Cortez and her campaign have not been proven, and there has been no determination of any wrongdoing by the appropriate legal authorities.

AOC's team failed to adequately disclose what they spent money on

In 2022, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (AOC) campaign and her former chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, were found to have failed to report roughly $1 million in expenses. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) released filings from a two-year investigation into allegations that Chakrabarti funnelled $1 million through two political action committees (PACs), Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats.

The FEC's investigation found that the two PACs "did not properly disclose the purpose of the disbursements" to the shell companies. The conservative National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) filed an FEC complaint, alleging that Ocasio-Cortez's team used two affiliated PACs to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars into a limited-liability company (LLC) to evade campaign finance laws. The PACs paid the LLC almost $1 million during the 2018 cycle for campaign services, while Ocasio-Cortez's campaign directly paid the LLC just under $19,000 for services.

The complaint states that the PACs described all of the LLC's services as "strategic consulting," rather than the fundraising, phone-banking, and other activities it potentially conducted. Bradley Smith, a former chairman of the FEC, argued that there is 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 would amount to an independent expenditure on behalf of the campaign or an in-kind contribution, exceeding legal limits.

However, most election law experts say there is no evidence that Ocasio-Cortez or Chakrabarti committed serious campaign finance violations, but some suggest there may be cause for further investigation. The lack of disclosure by Ocasio-Cortez's team has been attributed to relatively lax laws governing reporting on payments to sub-vendors. If Ocasio-Cortez and her team did, in fact, mislabel payments, the FEC would consider this a minor violation that could result in a fine and not jail time.

AOC's team mislabelled payments that were not for strategic consulting

In 2019, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and her congressional campaign were accused of violating campaign finance laws. The conservative National Legal and Policy Center filed a Federal Elections Commission (FEC) complaint alleging that Ocasio-Cortez's team funnelled hundreds of thousands of dollars from two affiliated political action committees (PACs) into a limited-liability company (LLC) to evade campaign finance laws. The PACs, Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, paid the LLC almost $1 million during the 2018 cycle for campaign services, while Ocasio-Cortez's campaign directly paid the LLC under $19,000.

The complaint stated that the PACs described all of the LLC's services as "strategic consulting" rather than the fundraising, phone-banking, and other activities it may have conducted. This allegation was supported by Bradley Smith, a Republican former chairman of the FEC, who argued that the PACs and the LLC did not adequately disclose what they spent their money on.

However, most election law experts, including Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center, stated that the allegations were "speculative" and that there was no evidence of serious campaign finance violations by Ocasio-Cortez or her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti. Fischer and Paul Ryan, a campaign finance expert at Common Cause, argued that the lack of disclosure was due to relatively lax laws governing reporting on payments to sub-vendors.

Fischer and Ryan asserted that if Ocasio-Cortez's team did, in fact, mislabel payments that were not for "strategic consulting," the FEC would consider this a minor violation that could result in a fine, not jail time. They emphasised that there are phrases on the FEC's approved list of descriptions for fundraising and phone-banking activities, and "strategic consulting" is not a catch-all phrase.

AOC's team may have sold services to her campaign at below-market rates

In 2019, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and her congressional campaign team faced scrutiny over allegations of violating campaign finance laws. A conservative group filed a Federal Elections Commission (FEC) complaint, accusing them of using two affiliated political action committees (PACs) to funnel nearly $1 million during the 2018 cycle for campaign services. The PACs allegedly funnelled the money through a limited-liability company to evade campaign finance laws, with the company being set up by AOC's chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti.

The PACs' attorney, David Mitrani, stated that the LLC was created to be a "campaign in a box" vendor, providing various campaign-related services. AOC's team acknowledged the legal requirement to charge fair market rates and stated that they made their prices as low as possible to avoid doing heavily discounted work for candidates, which would be illegal.

While AOC and her team denied any wrongdoing, legal experts suggested that there may be cause for further investigation, particularly regarding the lack of disclosure on what the PACs and LLC spent their money on. Bradley Smith, a former chairman of the FEC, argued that there was a possibility the LLC sold its services to AOC's campaign at below-market rates and was reimbursed by the PACs, which would exceed legal limits.

However, other experts, such as Brendan Fischer, dismissed these allegations as speculative and stated that there was no evidence of the PACs improperly subsidising AOC's campaign. They attributed the lack of disclosure to lax laws governing reporting on payments to sub-vendors, noting that the FEC doesn't require LLCs to disclose how they spend money paid to them by PACs.

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