Posted on 10/29/2025 9:26:20 AM PDT by Red Badger
A campaign finance watchdog group, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, filed two criminal referrals against Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday, claiming he received illegal contributions from foreign donors. However, the Mamdani campaign maintains that any issue regarding financial contributions has been resolved.
Mamdani’s campaign accepted nearly $13,000 from 170 donors from outside the US.
“These are not isolated incidents or clerical errors,” Dan Backer, a national campaign finance expert and president of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “This was a sustained pattern of foreign money flowing into a New York City mayoral race which is a clear violation of both federal law and New York City campaign finance rules. Mamdani’s campaign was on notice for months that it was accepting illegal foreign contributions, and yet it did nothing meaningful to stop it.”
The Mamdani campaign claims that “31 of the 170 donors have proven their citizenship or legal permanent residence and have been deemed permissible by the Campaign Finance Board, and the remaining 139 have had their donations refunded.”
CRF filed criminal referrals Tuesday with Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, alleging possible violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act, which bans foreign contributions to U.S. elections.
However, a state campaign finance official noted that U.S. citizens and lawful residents abroad can legally donate, suggesting they were legal.
“The law is crystal clear that foreign nationals may not participate in American elections, and that includes making contributions. Yet Mamdani’s campaign repeatedly accepted donations from individuals abroad,” Backer added, arguing that “whether through negligence or intent, this conduct undermines the integrity of the democratic process.”
I don’t see this going anywhere but we can hope.
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