Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is facing an ethics complaint regarding questionable expenses linked to a dance company. The complaint claims that the Democratic congresswoman misused campaign funds for "troubling" payments to the dance company, raising concerns about the appropriateness of these expenditures.
According to a letter sent to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) from Americans for Public Trust, Ocasio-Cortez made “several troubling expenses” that are "in contravention of federal law and the standards of the House of Representatives.”
The Squad member’s “assertion that these expenses are ‘an FEC filing,’ and not reflective of her MRA – as well as her claim that '[n]one of this is taxpayer money' – is both troubling and obviously incorrect,” the filing states.
“Either she does not know the difference between her campaign funds and MRA, or, more likely, she knows the highlighted expenses were not for official business and should have been paid by her campaign and reported to the FEC.”
AOC took to X to reject the claims she abused her use of office, saying that it was “100% wrong.”
“None of this is taxpayer money; this is an FEC filing. Be loud and wrong about something else. Try again next time,” she asserted.
Per the filing, Americans for Public Trust accuse Ocasio-Cortez of making a $3,700 payment to "Juan D Gonzalez" and another $850 to "Bombazo Dance Co Inc..” Both expenditures were listed as being used for “training.”
Each member of Congress is allocated a Member Representational Allowance (MRA), intended to cover expenses related to official duties and explicitly prohibited from being used for personal or campaign-related purposes. However, AOC is accused of using the MRA for personal expenses.