Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabart, allegedly created multiple LLCs to funnel campaign contributions from various political action committees (PACs). The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) filed the complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Monday.
Fox News' Caroline McKee confronted Ocasio-Cortez at Ronald Reagan National Airport to ask her if she violated FEC rules and regulations regarding campaign contributions. Naturally, she said, “There is no violation."
When asked if her campaign took in "dark money," something the Congresswoman has taken a strong stand against, she made a shocked face and said "absolutely not."
“If the facts as alleged are true, and a candidate had control over a PAC that was working to get that candidate elected, then that candidate is potentially in very big trouble and may have engaged in multiple violations of federal campaign finance law, including receiving excessive contributions,” former Republican FEC commissioner Hans von Spakovsky told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
NLPC's complaint alleges that Chakrabarti’s LLC served as a “cutout,” for at least $885,735 received from Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign and two federal political action committees, Brand New Congress PAC and Justice Democrats PAC.
If found guilty of violating FEC rules and regulations, it remains unclear what kind of consequences, if any, the Congresswoman will face.
.@AOC's take on the FEC violation report https://t.co/2Pf042A9BH
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) March 6, 2019