NLPC Files Lawsuit Against FEC for Dismissing Complaint Against Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez for Massive Reporting and Contribution Violations

–News Direct–

The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), an ethics watchdog group, filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleging that the FEC unlawfully and arbitrarily dismissed NLPC’s March 2019 complaint against Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Saikat Chakrabarti, her former Chief of Staff and his fundraising company, Brand New Congress LLC, and related political committees.

NLPC’s 2019 complaint alleged that AOC and company failed to properly disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in fundraising expenses and violated campaign contribution limits by using Chakrabarti’s Brand New Congress LLC to essentially operate her campaign without disclosing and itemizing campaign expenses over $200 as required by law. Instead, almost a million dollars were disclosed simply as “strategic consulting.”

In its February 23, 2022 letter to the NLPC, the FEC simply noted that the FEC dismissed the complaint against AOC a month earlier in January, and was deadlocked 3-3 with respect to the Brand New Congress respondents. The FEC has yet to give any reason for its dismissal of NLPC’s complaint but said those belated reasons will be forthcoming.

“This wasn’t dark money. It was pitch black money,” said Peter Flaherty, Chairman of NLPC. “This appears to be a scheme to spend hundreds of thousands to elect ‘progressive’ candidates without any of the required disclosure for any expenditure of $200 or more,” Flaherty added.

“It is outrageous that the FEC would dismiss NLPC’s complaint that even former FEC Commissioners have indicated raise civil if not criminal violations,” said Paul Kamenar, NLPC’s counsel who filed the lawsuit. “We look forward to prevailing in court,” Kamenar added.

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NLPC’s Government Integrity Project has filed numerous ethics complaints with the FEC, IRA, DOJ, and Congressional Ethics Committees against government officials.

For a copy of NLPC’s lawsuit, go to: https://www.nlpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/NLPC-v.-FEC-AOC-Complaint-with-Exhibits.pdf.

Founded in 1991, NLPC promotes ethics in public life and government accountability through research, investigation, education, and legal action.

Contact Details

Paul Kamenar

+1 301-257-9435

paul.kamenar@gmail.com

Company Website

http://www.nlpc.org

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