Is there anything a Socialist loves more than other people’s money? Apparently not— especially in the case of Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s top Harvard educated aide, 33-year-old Saikat Chakrabarti, who allegedly funneled a pretty massive sum of money into his own private companies. The former Bernie Sanders organizer seems to attach his wagon to “public servants” whose primary focus is serving the poor and downtrodden.
According to the Washington Examiner – Two political action committees founded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s top aide funneled over $1 million in political donations into two of his own private companies, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission. The cash transfers from the PACs — overseen by Saikat Chakrabarti, the freshman socialist Democrat’s chief of staff — run counter to her pledges to increase transparency and reduce the influence of “dark money” in politics.
Chakrabarti’s companies appear to have been set up for the sole purpose of obscuring how the political donations were used. The arrangement skirted reporting requirements and may have violated the $5,000 limit on contributions from federal PACs to candidates, according to the complaint filed by the National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group.
Campaign finance attorneys described the arrangement as “really weird” and an indication “there’s something amiss.” They said there was no way of telling where the political donations went — meaning they could have been pocketed or used by the company to pay for off-the-books campaign operations.
The complaint names Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti as respondents. It asks the FEC to investigate and audit the two PACs, saying they were engaged in an “an elaborate scheme to avoid proper disclosure of campaign expenditures.”
Two days ago, Ocasio-Cortez retweeted a warning from NBC News THINK AOC to Trump that Mueller isn’t the only investigator he needs to worry about. The tweet warned that Democrats are just getting started when it comes to Trump’s finances. And Ocasio-Cortez’s savvy questioning of Michael Cohen proves it.
Perhaps AOC should be more worried about answering to her donors about where their campaign money has gone.
.@AOC just reminded Trump that Mueller isn’t the only investigator he needs to worry about, writes @kurtbardella.
Democrats are just getting started when it comes to Trump’s finances. And Ocasio-Cortez’s savvy questioning of Michael Cohen proves it:https://t.co/6KwWWyINa4
— NBC News THINK (@NBCNewsTHINK) March 2, 2019
Tom Anderson, director of the National Legal and Policy Center’s Government Integrity Project, said: “It appears Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her associates ran an off-the-books operation to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, thus violating the foundation of all campaign finance laws: transparency.”
He founded a PAC called Brand New Congress in 2016 and another called Justice Democrats in 2017, with the stated goal of helping elect progressive candidates to Congress. One of those candidates was Ocasio-Cortez, who, last November, age 29, became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
The liberal media worked hard to help the socialist organizer push his PACs.
Here’s Chakrabarti, former director of “Organizing Technology,” pitching his Brand New Congress PAC to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow’s viewers. Listen, as he talks about getting money out of politics…LOL!
This video shows Chakrabarti explaining to Young Turks host Cenk Urgyr how his Justice Democrats PAC works:
Here’s a raw video of Chakrabarti attempting to convince coders to jump on board with his Brand New Congress scheme:
Spanning nearly 50 pages and levying more than 20 counts against Ocasio-Cortez, Chakrabarti, and the entities they created to carry out an unlawful, “dark money” scheme, the complaint provides the most in-depth analysis of Ocasio-Cortez’s various campaign finance violations to date.
According to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Committee (FEC) in March, two PACs founded by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s top aide, Saikat Chakrabarti funneled over $1 million in political donations into two of his own private companies, reported the Washington Examiner.
You can read the complaint here.
Foundation counsel Dan Backer, who authored the complaint, sent The Gateway Pundit this statement:
“The subsidy scheme carried out by AOC and her campaign manager involve some of the most egregious campaign finance violations ever recorded. Perhaps even more egregious is AOC’s hypocrisy on the matter, as she continues to portray herself as a campaign finance reformer. It’s time for the Federal Election Commission—and all Americans—to hold AOC accountable, and say no to her self-serving brand of socialism.”
On August 2nd of 2019, AOC Chief of Staff Saikat Chakrabarti suddenly resigned from his post as AOC’s Chief of Staff.
Also in August 2019, The Washington Examiner reported that federal agencies were investigating campaign finance misconduct by Chakrabarti:
The probe focuses on two political action committees started by Saikat Chakrabarti, concerns about which were first reported by the Washington Examiner in March. Chakrabarti left his post as chief of staff for Ocasio-Cortez along with communications director Corbin Trent, who is departing for the freshman congresswoman’s 2020 reelection campaign.
Chakrabarti stirred up plenty of controversy during his tenure as the creative mind behind Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign and strategist for the Green New Deal. He has sent out numerous tweets that started a clash between Ocasio-Cortez and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and many staffers and aides on Capitol Hill were not thrilled about his divisive behavior.
