CORTEZ AND HER CHIEF OF STAFF ‘COULD BE FACING JAIL TIME’ IF THEIR CONTROL OVER PAC WAS INTENTIONALLY HIDDEN, FORMER FEC COMMISSIONER SAYS – IOTW Report

CORTEZ AND HER CHIEF OF STAFF ‘COULD BE FACING JAIL TIME’ IF THEIR CONTROL OVER PAC WAS INTENTIONALLY HIDDEN, FORMER FEC COMMISSIONER SAYS

DC: Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti obtained majority control of Justice Democrats PAC in December 2017, according to archived copies of the group’s website, and the two appear to retain their control of the group, according to corporate filings obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. If the Federal Election Commission (FEC) finds that the New York Democrat’s campaign operated in affiliation with the PAC, which had raised more than $1.8 million before her June 2018 primary, it would open them up to “massive reporting violations, probably at least some illegal contribution violations exceeding the lawful limits,” former FEC commissioner Brad Smith said.

Ocasio-Cortez never disclosed to the FEC that she and Chakrabarti, who served as her campaign chair, controlled the PAC while it was simultaneously supporting her primary campaign, and former FEC commissioners say the arrangement could lead to multiple campaign finance violations. The group backed 12 Democrats during the 2018 midterms, but Ocasio-Cortez was the only one of those to win her general election.

“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.

And fellow former FEC commissioner Brad Smith told TheDCNF that if “a complaint were filed, I would think it would trigger a serious investigation.” He also noted that such a probe could potentially result in jail time for Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff, Chakrabarti.

Republican election attorney Charlie Spies told TheDCNF: “It looks like the campaign and PAC are under common control and the PAC was funding campaign staff and activities as an alter-ego of the campaign committee, which would be a blatant abuse of the PAC rules.”

Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti could face prison if the FEC determines that they knowingly and willfully withheld their ties between the campaign and the political action committee from the FEC to bypass campaign contribution limits, according to Smith.

“At minimum, there’s a lot of smoke there, and if there are really only three board members and she and [Chakrabarti] are two of them, sure looks like you can see the blaze,” Smith, a Republican, told TheDCNF. “I don’t really see any way out of it.”

Be sure to read it all

 

h/t Groucho Marxist.

36 Comments on CORTEZ AND HER CHIEF OF STAFF ‘COULD BE FACING JAIL TIME’ IF THEIR CONTROL OVER PAC WAS INTENTIONALLY HIDDEN, FORMER FEC COMMISSIONER SAYS

  1. At the very minimum, Pelosi should yank her bony ass off the Financial Services Committee immediately, until this matter is resolved.

    And the next question: Who will be paying for Sandy’s lawyers? Man, it must be really hard for her to keep her braying jackass mouth shut for a minute. You have your work cut out for you, lawyers. She’s the Boss, you know.

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  2. Maybe she’ll get the free housing, food, clothes, no car rides, no plane rides, no money, no freedom she has been promoting for everyone. But we’ll still have to pay for it, for only for one, not everyone.

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  3. Typically, Democrats going to jail is a resume enhancer.

    But look on the bright side. She’ll still be “Alex from the block”. It will just be a cell block.

    Forthcoming headlines from the Left Media:

    WaPo: Orange Is The New Latina

    Esquire: Orange Man Bad, Orange Woman Good

    Cosmopolitan: AOC Teases Sexy New Prison Physique (We’ve seen her lean, mean prison diet vajeen and it’s the freshest fish taco since Chipotle, girlfriend)

    Vanity Fair: Haute Jailbird Couture (We Know Why The Caged Bird Sings(

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  4. My prediction:

    I think this will stick. She’s too uppity for the good of the Demonrat party, and she has pissed off powerful people with her Amazon and Green plan stupidity.They will start turning the screw without a peep from Demonrat leadership. She will resign and another demonrat will win a special election.

    This will send a message to the other upstarts.

    Also, anyone know if the PAC supported Demonrat-Socialist scum candidates that were running against incumbent Demonrats in their primaries?

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  5. Well, the scumbags put Dinesh D’Sousa in jail for something ?
    But then, Dinesh is an American patriot. I doubt the libtards will do anything here.
    But then Mort/Masses may be right. Get rid of the bitch!

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  6. That article at the link is stuffed top to bottom with equivocation. An almost endless string of if’s, could’s, possibly’s, and maybe’s.

    Almost (see what I did there?) like no one actually has any proof.

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  7. D’Souza was indicted on felony campaign finance violations because he caused two friends to make maximum contributions ($5K each) to Wendy Long’s senate campaign, and then reimbursed them for it (straw donations). He was given five years probation, had to serve an 8 month overnight community confinement (at a detention center across the country from where he lived), $30,100. fine, lost his voting rights, and had to undergo court-ordered therapy (reeducation). As D’Souza explains it, this was the best of all possible outcomes under the circumstances because Preet Bhahara was gunning for him. They got D’Souza to concede because they were also going for bank fraud (because a bank was involved), and something else (I forget what) — process crimes. All that because of $10K over the FEC allowance for individual contributions.

    What I don’t understand is why the FEC has to wait to investigate Cortez and company until someone files a complaint. If the FEC has knowledge that she and her handler were two of the three board members of a PAC that accumulated $4.6M, it doesn’t seem necessary that anyone file a formal complaint.

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  8. She’ll walk…the Dem’s will twist themselves in knots to make it happen because scumbags need the rabble (AOC, et al) as an attention misdirect.

    Heard anything on Smollett lately? He’ll walk too…powers that be will make up some excuse using their typical tortured logic, whereas any normal person would have the book thrown at them inside of two days.

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  9. All the cynicism expressed (appropriately, imo) and the pervasive doubt that justice ever prevails in this country speaks to the fetid sewer that is our government, and because it represents us, our nation.

    A meteor would be fitting.

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  10. Abigail, what you know would make a great library. What Ocrazie Cortez dosen’t know would make an even greater library. Also you sound so sweet, (heard you on the Pinko/Mike show last night) whereas
    AOC sounds like nails on a chalk board. If she goes to jail the dykes will ravage her. Unlike Dinesh, she has nothing to offer them, Have a great Lent.

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  11. One thing is different here, in her case. She pissed off a looooot of House Dems by saying she’s going to primary them with that SAME PAC!

    Pelosi knows Cortez is trying to be HER boss. Why? Because the media keeps saying so.

    Even MSNBC has taken to trashing her, and she’s fighting with wapoo, politiho, CBS … non-stop.

    Pelosi may take her off the finance committee. I mean, come on. How could she NOT. They can’t clown POTUS about his finances and have that stink bomb with a pony tail sitting there. LOL!

    Schumer can’t help her. Unless she’s giving him a piece of that arrogant ass of hers. And even then, it’s no use.

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  12. Oh AbigailAdams, THANK YOU so much for that link on cynicism!
    Just what I needed today.
    I was on a tear this early morning to abandon ship, but you plugged the hole in my hull.

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  13. The same groups that paid for this dumb bitch’s ticket for their political reality game show fund every other Dem too so…please dig into ActBlue.

    ActBlue is usually the 2nd largest SuperPAC on Open Secrets. Somehow a nonpartisan 501 (c) 3.

    They play a shell game with all the money they give.

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