It’s been three weeks since Lev Parnas’ failed Florida congressional campaign should have filed legally required details about the money it’s recently raised, spent and has in reserve.
Federal campaign finance regulators have now come knocking.
“The failure to timely file a complete report may result in civil money penalties, an audit or legal enforcement action,” Deborah Chacona, assistant staff director at the Federal Election Commission, wrote in a letter to the Parnas campaign dated Nov. 3. “The civil money penalty calculation for late reports does not include a grace period and begins on the day following the due date for the report.”
The Parnas campaign has not responded to multiple requests for comment on the missing disclosure, and did not immediately respond to another request on Thursday.
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The FEC’s warning carries little consequence, at least for now: The independent commission has not had enough commissioners to audit, investigate or fine political committees since May 2025. But the commission would return to work if the Senate confirms two Republicans the president nominated in February.
Parnas, a former Rudy Giuliani ally sentenced to prison earlier this decade in part for campaign finance crimes, launched a long-shot congressional bid in Florida’s 27th Congressional District this spring. In June, he switched his campaign to run in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District.
Parnas’ campaign disclosed paying a cleaning service and makeup artist thousands of dollars this spring for campaign services they don’t appear to provide, raising questions about whether the money was used for personal expenses, The Washington Sun first reported.
Parnas denied the funds were used for personal expenses in a statement after publication in September. He said the cleaning service did “diverse work” and paid subcontractors for “campaign-related tasks,” while the makeup artist “also provides outreach consulting.”
Terry Jacobs, who owns the Florida-based makeup studio Parnas paid, did not respond to requests for comment from The Sun. A man who identified himself as the son of the owner of the cleaning company ended a call with The Sun last month when asked what public relations services the Parnas campaign had paid the cleaning company to handle.
While Parnas did not qualify for the November general election ballot, he told supporters in early September that he was still running and asked for their financial support on his Substack, which has more than 80,000 subscribers.
Parnas, who is the father of popular political news influencer Aaron Parnas, who has spoken extensively about Lev Parnas’ previous legal troubles, appeared to drop his election effort in early October. (Democrat Pia Dandiya won Florida’s 22nd Congressional District this week in an upset.)
“It didn’t turn out the way I wanted. I wasn’t able to build the organization and team necessary to get onto the ballot and take this fight to Congress,” Parnas wrote on his Substack on Oct. 7.
Regardless of whether Parnas dropped his bid before the general election, the campaign must file a report detailing any money it raised or spent in those three months, during which he insisted he was still running.
Parnas’s campaign last reported having about $1,300 in available cash as of June 30.
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