Ocasio-Cortez, chief of staff illegally moved $885K in campaign contributions 'off the books,' FEC complaint alleges https://www.foxnews.com/politics/oc...-fec-rules-to-hide-885g-fec-complaint-alleges New York. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Saikat Chakrabarti, the progressive firebrand's multimillionaire chief of staff, apparently violated campaign finance law by working to funnel nearly $1 million in contributions from political action committees Chakrabarti established to private companies that he also controlled, according to an explosive complaint filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and obtained by Fox News. The filing asserts that Chakrabarti established two political action commitees, the Brand New Congress PAC and Justice Democrats PAC, and then transfered more than $885,000 in contributions received by those PACs to the Brand New Congress LLC -- a company that, unlike the PACs, is exempt from reporting all of its expenditures over $200. The PACs claimed the payments were for "strategic consulting." Although such transfers would not necessarily be improper, the complaint, drafted by the conservative, Virginia-based National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), argued that the goal of the "extensive" scheme was seemingly to illegally dodge detailed legal reporting requirements of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which are designed to track campaign expenditures. Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti, according to the complaint, appeared to have "orchestrated an extensive off-the-books operation to make hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenditures in support of multiple candidates for federal office." The funds, the NLPC writes, were apparently spent on campaign events for Ocasio-Cortez and other far-left Democratic candidates favored by Chakrabarti, who made his fortune in Silicon Valley and previously worked on Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. But no precise accounting for the expenses is available, and the complaint asks the FEC to conduct an investigation into the matter immediately. "These are not minor or technical violations," Tom Anderson, director of NLPC’s Government Integrity Project, said in a statement. "We are talking about real money here. In all my years of studying FEC reports, I’ve never seen a more ambitious operation to circumvent reporting requirements. Representative Ocasio-Cortez has been quite vocal in condemning so-called dark money, but her own campaign went to great lengths to avoid the sunlight of disclosure.” Added Anderson: “They believe their cause is so great that they don’t have to play by the rules. They believe that they are above campaign finance law." He charged that Ocasio-Cortez “has been quite vocal in condemning so-called dark money, but her own campaign went to great lengths to avoid the sunlight of disclosure." Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately return a request for comment. In announcing the complaint the NLPC pointed to a 2016 interview on MSNBC, in which the 33-year-old Chakrabarti told anchor Rachel Maddow that he wanted to employ a "single, unified presidential-style campaign" model to "galvanize" voters nationally to elect progressives to Congress, while helping candidates avoid the stress of fundraising and managing their own campaigns. PAYMENTS TO AOC BOYFRIEND SPUR FEC COMPLAINT Other legal experts also sounded the alarm on Monday, saying Chakrabarti's unusual arrangement was suspect, although not necessarily illegal. Former FEC Associate General Counsel for Policy Adav Noti, who currently directs the Campaign Legal Center, told Fox News that it was a "total mystery" to him why Chakrabarti had established an LLC seemingly to take money from the PAC, rather than simply create a "normal venture," like a consulting business to provide services for candidates on the books. "Certainly, it's not permissible to use an LLC or any other kind of LLC or any other kind of intermediary to conceal the recipient or purpose of a PAC's spending," Noti said. "The law requires the PAC to report who it disperses money to. You can't try to evade that by routing it through an LLC or corporation or anyone else." Noti added: "What's so weird about this situation is that the PAC that dispersed so much of its money to one entity that was so clearly affiilated with the PAC. Usually, that's a sign that its whats come to be known as a 'scam PAC' -- one thats operated for the finanical benefit of its operators, rather than one designed to engage in political activity." At the same time, Noti said, Chakrabarti had provided "long descriptions of why they structured it the way they did -- which is not something a scam PAC would do," because it only draws attention to the unusual setup. And Noti cautioned that there is a tendency for some groups to try to gain attention by invoking Ocasio-Cortez. "But on the other hand," Noti added, Ocasio-Cortez's "explanations don't make a lot of sense on their face. I read their explanation multiple times, and I still don't understand. If you want to start a business to provide services to campaigns -- many of those are organized as LLC's, and you sell your services." "I read their explanation multiple times, and I still don't understand." — Former FEC Associate General Counsel for Policy Adav Noti Instead, Chaktrabarti "started a PAC, which has legal obligations to report all of is incoming and outgoing money, and then used the PAC to disperse its funds to the LLC," Noti said. AOC ADVISER ADMITS HE WAS TOTALLY WRONG ABOUT 'JOBS GUARANTEE' FOR THOSE 'UNWILLING TO WORK' IN GREEN NEW DEAL Added former FEC chairman Bradley A. Smith, in an interview with The Washington Examiner: "It's a really weird situation. I see almost no way that you can do that without it being at least a reporting violation, quite likely a violation of the contribution limits. You might say from a campaign finance angle that the LLC was essentially operating as an unregistered committee." Last week, Anderson also pointed out that Ocasio-Cortez's decision to announce, with much fanfare, that she would offer a minimum salary of $52,000 to her staffers, and a maximum salary of $80,000 -- was far below the typical six-figure highs hit by chiefs of staff and other high-level congressional workers. But government watchdogs pointed out that federal law requires congressional workers making more than $126,000 a year -- which would ordinarily include Chakrabarti -- to file detailed forms outlining all of their outside income, including investments and gifts. “Purposefully underpaying staffers in order to avoid transparency is an old trick some of the most corrupt members of Congress have used time and again,” Anderson said. Speaking to the New York Post, Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent dismissed the FEC complaint, saying the campaign had consulted an elections lawyer and that all money was properly accounted for. “It was payment for services. ... We believe that complaint is politically motivated, basically intended to create a political story,” Trent told the Post. Noti told Fox News that Trent's explanation could be plausible -- and if so, it might help Ocasio-Cortez's team avoid civil fraud lawsuits. (Much more at above url)
For people who wonder how pols get obscenely rich on a relatively small salary, the OP might give you a clue.
We need one of those "sweeping probes" into all members of congress and their business and personal finance dealings.
Did anyone here besides me try to actually read this shit. WTF. The only thing clear to me is that AOC is the focus of some kind of political hit. I don't know much about her, but whoever is behind this crap must be scared as shit of her. Looks like she's going to be the next big thing in politics.
Now, if we can only get the FBI to do their jobs and raid Congress the same way they raided Roger Stone's home with rifles pointed and the media ready to take pictures and videos, we can restore integrity and honesty to our justice system?Something extremely wrong when the most inept and corrupt can get away with anything and everything as long as one was a Democrat?
My intent was to post the article, which includes in-depth details, to allow people to decide for themselves if it was a political hit or has basis in fact. I see AOC is out defending herself today over these FEC allegations