AOC hit with ethics complaint over $4,550 payments for dance ‘training'
A watchdog has slapped an ethics complaint against 'Squad' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, accusing her of misusing taxpayer funds on dance 'training.'
Americans for Public Trust, a private watchdog group that targets corruption, alleged that Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), 35, tapped into her Member Representational Allowance to shell out $3,700 to 'Juan D Gonzalez' and $850 to 'Bombazo Dance Co Inc' for what was described as 'training' in December.
The watchdog on Tuesday sent a complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) and argued that the rep made the payments in 'contravention of federal law and the standards of the House of Representatives.'
Ocasio-Cortez had dismissed concerns about the two December 2024 payments and seemingly implied they were campaign expenses instead, which the watchdog argued backs its case that the funds were misappropriated.
'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 wrote on X Saturday in response to a critique.
The Post was unable to find references to 'Juan D Gonzalez' or 'Bombazo Dance Co Inc' in Federal Election Commission records of Ocasio-Cortez's congressional campaign disbursements.
Americans for Public Trust disputed Ocasio-Cortez's assertion that the payments were made with campaign cash by pointing to a section in the 1120-page list of House disbursements between Oct. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2024.
'Representative Ocasio-Cortez has made expenditures from her official office account that she herself contends should have been reported to the FEC, presumably because they were made for campaign purposes,' the watchdog wrote in its complaint.
'If it is revealed that Representative Ocasio-Cortez has demonstrated a pattern of using her taxpayer-funded MRA to pay her campaign expenses, we further request a full investigation be commenced by your office.'
Bombazo Dance Co Inc. is a Bronx-based youth dance organization. Video posted on Bombazo Dance Co Inc.'s Facebook page showed the progressive darling banging on drums and dancing with patrons at the company in December.
Details of the 'Juan D Gonzalez' who received payments are not immediately clear.
Member Representational Allowance is a fund that the House provides members to help foot the bill for official expenses related to staff compensation, travel, rent, printing documents, mail, equipment and more.
In fiscal year 2023, the House allocated roughly $810 million for the Member Representational Allowance, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Americans for Public Trust is calling on the OCE to conduct a more thorough review of the congresswoman's use of allowance funds.
The Post contacted Ocasio-Cortez's press team for comment.
Ocasio-Cortez has faced ethics complaints in the past.
Two years ago, she was probed over the 2021 Met Gala over revelations that she received a free ticket to attend the star-studded New York City charity event.
She also received a discounted rate for renting a white Brother Vellies dress designed by Aurora James that featured the bright red words 'Tax the Rich' as well as a handbag that she carried at the gala.
Reps are restricted under ethics rules from receiving free gifts, barring certain exceptions, but the Met Gala was not one of them.
Staffers 'could not explain' the discount, and the OCE unanimously recommended that the House Ethics Committee conduct further investigation of whether she had accepted 'impermissible gifts.'
The Bronx and Queens-based rep was also hit with a complaint backed by the Heritage Foundation in 2023 claiming that she was 'falsely accusing' and 'defaming' Chaya Raichik, the woman behind the Libs of TikTok X account.
At the time, Ocasio-Cortez publicly accused Raichik of lying in a 2022 post with her claim that a hospital in Boston was 'offering 'gender affirming hysterectomies' for young girls.'
The Heritage Foundation accused the congresswoman of 'lying and disseminating disinformation' about Raichik.
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