Progressive Rep. Maxine Waters’s (D-CA) campaign had to write a hefty check after being found guilty of accepting illegal campaign donations during her 2020 re-election bid.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) fined “Citizens for Waters” $68,000 for “failing to accurately report receipts and disbursements” during the 2020 calendar year. The FEC also charged Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign with “knowingly accepting excessive contributions” and “making prohibited cash disbursements.”
The Water’s campaign has also agreed to “send its treasurer to a commission-sponsored training program for political committees.”
The campaign group accepted $19,000 in illegal contributions from seven individuals during 2019 and 2020, exceeding the legal individual donation limit of $2,800. According to the FEC, Citizens for Waters also made four prohibited cash disbursements over $100 each, totaling $7,000.
The campaign committee claims it hired legal counsel to advise the treasurer and established procedures to ensure all disbursements complied with federal law. Meanwhile, the committee's attorney, Leilani Beaver, described the financial violations as unintentional "errors" that were "not willful or purposeful."
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This isn't the first time Waters has come under fire for financial controversies.
Between January 2021 and December 2022, Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign paid her daughter over $1.2 million for work related to a slate mailer operation—an unusual campaign practice rarely used in modern elections. This isn’t the first time Waters has faced scrutiny over ethics concerns. In 2010, the House Ethics Committee accused her of violating conflict of interest rules by allegedly using her position to assist a bank connected to her husband. While the case against Waters was ultimately dismissed, her chief of staff received a formal reprimand.
