Campaign Finance Scandals

Violated multiple campaign finance rules during his 2022 campaign and then stonewalled the state Ethics Commission when they demanded he hand over all "financial or accounting documents" from his campaign resulting in the commission going to court to subpoena the records

Spent more than $157,000 in campaign money on personal expenses including $1,200 at a strip club, luxury clothes, cosmetics and multiple "opaque" checks and wire transfers that couldn't be properly accounted for

Falsely reported that he had loaned his campaign $320k and took an additional $700k line of credit on campaign finance forms he submitted in an apparent attempt to make potential challengers think that he had vastly more money in his campaign account than he actually did

Diverted more than $25,000 in campaign contributions to an entity that he was the sole proprietor of and was located at his home address by falsely claiming the money was used to pay rent on office space for his political campaign

Stole over $132,000 from multiple political accounts to pay for vacations with his family, housing costs and personal credit card statements by siphoning money from a loosely regulated political account that prosecutors alleged he used as his own "unregulated slush fund" into his own pocket

Conspired with disgraced former Congressman George Santos to submit fraudulent campaign finance reports that falsely asserted he had loaned his campaign $500,000 because it made him look wealthier than he actually was and helped him get donor funding he very likely otherwise wouldn't have received

Illegally transferred $91,000 from his campaign fund and a nonprofit organization to a PAC supporting his candidacy to help his failed 2016 bid for US Congress and then hid the transactions from the FEC

Illegally transferred $82.5 million from his state political action committee to a super PAC supporting his Presidential bid in violation of a federal campaign finance law that prohibits candidates from spending money that was obtained by people and groups not subject to strict federal requirements

Spent $17,303 in campaign funds on personal expenses including family vacations, a professional baseball game, $2,400 worth of clothing and his children's cellphone bills and also failed to provide proper documentation for over $53,000 worth of meals he charged at taxpayers' expense

Defrauded a donor who gave him $535,200 to use on his campaign which he diverted to his personal business accounts instead and broke campaign finance laws by not disclosing it in a scheme multiple campaign finance experts called “unprecedented,” “stunning,” and “jaw-dropping”

Stole $159k from his election campaign and spent it on personal expenses by routing funds through a political consulting firm that in turn paid him over a series of transactions

Illegally spent over $100,000 in campaign contributions on personal expenses and then tried to cover it up by filing numerous false tax returns

Illegally accepted over $25,000 in campaign contributions from a single family member far exceeding the $5,600 legal limit per person

Illegally coordinated with the leader of a Republican state PAC to pay an opposition research firm $52,000 to investigate the Democratic candidate for governor in violation of state law barring PACs from working with local and state political parties

Suspiciously listed 37 campaign expenses on purchases like a hotel stay in Miami and other travel expenses as costing $199.99 -- one cent below the legally binding $200 threshold that required itemized receipts -- on his campaign finance forms

Made illegal campaign contributions and filed false financial reports to cover it up to promote an independent "ghost candidate" who got 4,800 votes likely swinging the election to the Republican who won by a narrow 300 votes

Used $1,929.07 in campaign funds to pay for 11 months' worth of dues to gain "unlimited access" to a private social and dining club located in Texas

Spent $3,147.06 in campaign funds to pay for an extravagant dinner at a private social and dining club that the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics reported was likely a personal expense and not a fundraising event as he claimed

Spent roughly $100,000 in campaign donations on personal expenses that included a down payment on a home, luxury cars and childcare expenses

Funneled $25,000 of a Russian oligarch's money to the Trump 2016 campaign in exchange for a ticket and access to Trump during a Republican National Committee event

Snorted cocaine with a paid escort he also presumably had sex with inside an Orlando hotel room he paid for with campaign funds

Spent over $600,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses including his mortgage, paying off personal loans, multiple vehicles, a motor home, family vacations and a host of other things that had nothing to do with his campaign

Funneled hundreds of millions of dollars through two shell companies connected to his son-in-law to hide its spending during the 2020 Presidential campaign

Violated campaign finance law by coordinating with a Super PAC that ran political attack ads against his opponents without reporting the ads as a gift as required by state and federal law and was fined $178,000 by The Missouri Ethics Commission

Illegally paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money to keep her from going public about an extramarital affair they had by directing his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to pay her off and agreeing to reimburse him in monthly installments one month before the 2016 election in violation of campaign-finance laws

Illegally paid $8,912 in campaign funds to the lawyer of a woman he had an extramarital affair with to help pay her legal fees in an attempt to keep their affair from becoming public

Gave $29,800 in campaign funds to a professional gambler with a long criminal record and an additional $25,000 to his wife, illegally reimbursed himself $11,946.65 from his campaign account for expenses he provided no documentation of and spent thousands more on personal expenses including an airplane ticket for his wife, custom suits, spa products, sunglasses, lawncare and paint for his home office, among many other things

Illegally spent more than $100,000 in campaign funds to invest in a wealthy GOP donor's company

Violated campaign-finance laws by paying former Playboy Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal $150,000 in hush money to keep her from going public about an extramarital affair they had by orchestrating a convoluted payment scheme involving his lawyer Michael Cohen and the tabloid National Enquirer a week and a half before the 2016 election

Illegally paid Iowa state senator Kent Sorenson $73,000 to switch his 2016 Presidential candidate endorsement from Michelle Bachmann to Ron Paul and then falsified campaign reports to cover it up

Stole $250,000 from his campaign to spend on everyday personal expenses like family vacations, private school tuition and jewelry in addition to a multitude of expenses that funded at least five extramarital relationships on things like ride shares, bar tabs and hotel rooms

Lied about the origins of a $355,000 loan to his 2010 congressional campaign that his parents gave him by falsely asserting the money came from earnings he made working in the private sector

Fraudulently accepted at least $500k for her campaign from her husband by falsely reporting the money came from her personal accounts and accepted an additional $30k from four straw donors who concealed that he was the source of the funds

Illegally paid convicted felon and former Governor John Rowland $35,000 under the table to work on her 2012 Republican congressional campaign instead of using campaign funds as required by law

Billed $50,000 in false expense reports to his campaign by lying about driving 90,000 more miles than he actually did in reimbursement forms

Secretly siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars in unreported campaign donations to his personal accounts and used the money on a myriad of personal expenses including his personal credit card and only escaped charges because he exploited a little-known loophole in Florida's campaign finance laws

Embezzled $400k in insurance premiums from a company he owned and deposited it into his congressional campaign account and then tried to cover his tracks by transferring ownership of the company to his wife