Fraud alert: Thieves just stole big money from a dozen politicians and political committees |
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) may be one of the most powerful members of Congress. But even he is not immune from thieves who’ve been raiding the accounts of politicians and political committees with near-impunity.
Thune’s leadership political action committee, Heartland Values PAC, lost $5,949 in a “check fraud” incident on Nov. 1, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Thune’s office did not respond to a series of questions, but a source familiar with the theft confirmed the incident to OpenSecrets, adding: “The activity was quickly identified and reported, and it remains under investigation.”
Meanwhile, two-term Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Utah) had a rough December. Her campaign disclosed 14 separate “fraudulent” debit card charges between Dec. 3 and Dec. 9, involving payments to Uber Eats and Facebook.
Total damage: about $600. Pettersen’s congressional office did not respond to several emails and phone calls, but in a filing with the FEC, the Brittany Pettersen for Colorado campaign committee indicated that its bank refunded the charges.
Thune and Pettersen are among more than a dozen elected leaders and federal political committees — conservative and liberal — that have lost three-, four- or five-figure sums from their campaign accounts because of theft, fraud, embezzlement, unauthorized charges or other financial shenanigans, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of federal campaign finance records filed since the November election.
These incidents add to dozens of other thefts this decade from political committees small and large, including those led by national parties, notable corporations, powerful lawmakers and even a president. The stolen money — sometimes recovered, often not — has collectively soared into the millions of dollars.
And while that represents just a small fraction of the overall amount spent on federal elections — the 2024 federal election cost more than $15.9 billion, according to an OpenSecrets analysis — the thefts hurt both the political committees themselves as well as donors, whose contributions ultimately pay for pilfered items ranging from luxury goods to Uber rides, not political advocacy.
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Democratic leadership profile: Hakeem Jeffries |
By Leonardi Pini
Selected by his fellow Democrats in November 2022 to be the party’s standard-bearer as House minority leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) is the first Black person to hold the top leadership position in either chamber of Congress.
Elected to the House of Representatives in 2013, Jeffries rapidly became a prominent figure in the Congressional Black Caucus and chaired the House Democratic Caucus. He made criminal justice reform and gun violence prevention two of his key issues. |
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Jeffries has run for federal office seven times since 2012, raising more than $38 million. His biggest contributors have been pro-Israel political action committees, in particular the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has raised more than $900,000 for him. Pro-Israel America PAC and NorPAC have bundled over $300,000 combined.
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Other major financial contributors include employees of Paul Weiss, the law firm where Jeffries worked before entering politics. They have given more than $300,000. And employees of Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, have contributed almost $200,000.
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Paul Weiss has been in the news lately for striking an agreement with the Trump administration after the president took aim at a number of law firms that employ Democrats and others who took part in investigations of Trump. Paul Weiss was targeted in an executive order on March 14; as per the terms of the agreement, the firm will provide $40 million of pro bono work for the administration. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a post on social media that “it is an absolute outrage that, in order to curry favor with Trump and continue making their billions, giant law firms like Paul Weiss have abrogated their responsibilities.”
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In the 2024 election cycle, Jeffries’ district was home to the second most expensive House race with over $22 million. He spent just over $20 million, making it the fourth most expensive reelection of the cycle. However, Jeffries faced only token opposition and was able to redirect much of that money to other Democratic candidates — a common practice among congressional leaders.
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Jeffries has his own Leadership PAC, Jobs, Education and Family First, which started raising money in 2016. After raising only $12,000 for federal candidates that cycle, Jeffries’ PAC is now one of the largest in American politics. In the 2024 election, he was able to gather over $1.1 million, becoming the third largest Democratic leadership PAC and the eighth largest overall
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Despite Jeffries’ long history of supporting Israel and the American Jewish community, his PAC contributed to the campaigns of AIPAC’s critics, such as Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Mich.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), during the 2022 election cycle,.
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Jeffries is also closely associated with the House Majority PAC, a Carey committee that combines aspects of PACs and super PACs. House Majority PAC has large donors such as corporate leaders Michael Bloomberg and Fred Eychaner and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
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In 2021, alongside Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Jeffries founded the Team Blue PAC, with the focus of defending Democratic incumbents from more left-wing primary challengers, which sparked tensions between Jeffries and progressive groups. The PAC contributed $69,000 to candidates in the 2022 election cycle and $2,000 in 2024.
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Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator
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Howard Lutnick, secretary of commerce
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Mike Waltz, national security advisor
- Marco Rubio, secretary of state
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Sean Duffy, secretary of transportation
- Susie Wiles, director national intelligence
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Tulsi Gabbard, director national intelligence
- Kash Patel, director of the FBI
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Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of health and human services
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Linda McMahon, secretary of education
- Elise Stefanik, ambassador to the United Nations
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Doug Burgum, secretary of the interior
- Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense
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See our media citations from outlets around the nation this week: |
Progressive Media Star Kat Abughazaleh Raised $378K for Congressional Campaign. Only a Small Fraction Came From Local Voters (WTTW)
Progressive media star Kat Abughazaleh has raised more than $378,000 to fuel her bid to oust U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, but only a fraction of that massive haul came from residents of Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, according to a WTTW News analysis. Abughazaleh, 26, who rose to prominence by making lively TikTok videos critiquing Fox News and Republicans, out raised Schakowsky, 80, during the first quarter of the year, according to reports filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission reflecting contributions between Jan. 1 and April 1.
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Stefanik May Propel MAGA Stardom Into New York Governor’s Race (MSN)
Stefanik raised $15.4 million in 2024, about triple the average for an incumbent House member, according to OpenSecrets. Among her biggest sources of funds were the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which directs its supporters to donate to pro-Israel candidates, and conservative groups. She was the top House recipient of donations from anti-abortion groups and ranked second in donations from backers of gun rights. |
Ossoff raises record-breaking $11M for Senate reelect (Politico)
The early fundraising haul is a show of force that could serve to keep some potential GOP challengers on the sideline, though the $11 million is certain to be only a drop in the bucket of the expected overall spending. Georgia’s 2022 Senate race won by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock saw more than $515 million spent by campaigns and outside groups, according to OpenSecrets.
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