AOC quietly dropped from PAC leadership amid legal questions (soft-money in the socialist mix)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was quietly dropped as co-manager of a political action committee last week, just days after campaign finance experts questioned whether her role with the outside group was legal. Justice Democrats, a federal PAC that helped Ocasio-Cortez get elected to Congress last year, quietly filed corporate paperwork removing Ocasio-Cortez as one of the group’s “governors” in Washington, D.C., on Mar. 15, the Daily Caller reported on Monday.

The move came just days after campaign finance lawyers told the Daily Caller that Ocasio-Cortez’s position as a governor of Justice Democrats could be a legal conflict because the PAC also supported her congressional bid.

“If the facts as alleged are true, and a candidate had control over a PAC that was working to get that candidate elected, then that candidate is potentially in very big trouble and may have engaged in multiple violations of federal campaign finance law, including receiving excessive contributions,” former Republican FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky told the outlet.

Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, who founded the Justice Democrats PAC, was also removed as a governor on Mar. 15, according to the records filed with the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Current governors now include Justice Democrats Director Alexandra Rojas, Nasim Thompson, and Demond Drummer. Attorneys for Ocasio-Cortez told Snopes.com in March that the congresswoman left the Justice Democrats board in June 2018. However, the group’s corporate filings indicate that Ocasio-Cortez remained part of its corporate leadership until last Friday.

Ocasio-Cortez’s spokesman, Corbin Trent, did not respond to request for comment. A representative for Justice Democrats did not respond to request for comment. Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti have been facing scrutiny for their involvement with the Justice Democrats and an associated PAC called Brand New Congress. The groups, which were founded by Chakrabarti, funneled over $1 million into companies controlled by Chakrabarti between 2016 and 2017, the Washington Examiner first reported earlier this month.

The National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission requesting an investigation into the unusual arrangement.

"Justice Democrats" also operates a “527 committee,” the same type of soft-money group that Ocasio-Cortez has said she would like to ban through a constitutional amendment, the Washington Examiner reported on Monday.

Betcha they promised her a bundle if she signed up. Here's how they did it.

“Brand New Congress” is a group of Bernie Sanders ex-staffers who decided 2018 midterms should be all
about Bernie's policies, finding 400 Bernie carbon copies to dump into races. AOC was hired to run in NY.

NOTE "Brand New Congress" mastermind is Saikat Chakrabarti; "Justice Democrats" is Cenk Uygur.
Making a pile of money musta been a huge incentive. Read on.

==========================================

.......an FEC complaint was filed against AOC alleging her COS, Saikat Chakrabarti, created multiple
private companies--LLCs--to siphon off campaign contributions from her various PACs for her personal use......

BTW, besides socialism (gag)....Bernie and AOC have a lot in common.

AOC’s COS used to be Bernie’s....wait for it....."Director of Organizing Technology."

AND THIS--Saikat Chakrabarti, is a proven tech expert.
(A) He co-founded a web design tool,
(B) He built up the product team at the payment processor "Stripe".........
(C) He then came to the Sanders campaign after (cough) growing disillusioned with the tech world.

Saikat Chakrabarti was Bernie's Director of Organizing Technology. Even old man Bernie knew enough to hire a tech expert.

So, I guess (smirk) Chakrabarti's tech skills musta come in mighty handy when donations to Bernie were
wire-transferred to the DNC and ended up in 2016 candidate Hillary's account.
Debbie W/S headed the DNC at the time and was ousted b/c of her bias for Hillary.

Course, none of us heard about any of this, but.....
<><> Chakrabarti-the-tech-whiz did find out about the DNC theft, didnt he?
<><> Chakrabarti did speak to D/W/S about it, or to Debbie's tech expert, Imran Awan, didnt he?
<><> Chakrabarti did tell Bernie he was fleeced, didnt he?
<><> Chakrabarti WAS working for Bernie, wasnt he?

Now the stunning details about that FEC complaint:

The FEC complaint asserts that AOC's COS, Saikat Chakrabarti, early on established two PACs that raised big bucks for AOC's campaign:
<><> the "Brand New Congress PAC," and,
<><> "Justice Democrats PAC."

After mucho money was raised, Chakrabarti systematically transferred $885,000+ in PAC contributions to his private companies with similar names:
<><> the "Brand New Campaign LLC," and,
<><> he " Brand New Congress LLC."

Saikat Chakrabarti's private companies, unlike PACs, are exempt from reporting all of their significant expenditures.
Keep in mind it is a much-used criminal act to open bank accounts using similarly named entities as Chakrabarti did.

SIPHONINGS A CINCH It's easy to siphon off money for oneself by putting checks into the new accounts with similar names, depositing checks that were made out to the original entity.

Even your bank will advise you that if the check-writer "mis-spelled" your name.....to just endorse the check with the correct name.

AND PRESTO: a check made out to Brand New Congress PAC, is deposited in the Brand New Congress LLC account.

==========================================

ANALYSIS --- Chakrabarti's companies appear to have been set up for the sole purpose of obscuring how AOC's donations were used. The arrangement skirted reporting requirements and may have violated the $5,000 limit on contributions, according to the FEC 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 (A) the donations could have been pocketed, or, (B) used by the LLC's to pay for off-the-books campaign operations.---SNIP---SOURCED FROM FR.

===================================
JUST WONDERING .....does Chakrabarti have a reputation among Democraps for facilitating the conversion of campaign donations?

Maybe we should ask landowner Socialist Bernie (smirk)?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.