A thief stole $40,000 from law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP’s political action committee by passing a “fraudulent” check, according to a federal filing reviewed by NOTUS.
The theft occurred on April 30 when an unknown person transferred funds from the committee to a retail branch of Truist Bank in Washington, D.C. The committee reported the bogus check to the bank shortly after it was disbursed, it told federal regulators.
“On the next business day (May 1st), the bank reversed the charge, and all funds were returned to the committee’s bank account,” the PAC reported to the Federal Election Commission.
Arnold & Porter, headquartered in Washington, acknowledged NOTUS’ request for comment but did not provide additional details on the incident.
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The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department told NOTUS they received “no police reports at that address in the month of April 2026.”
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request asking if Arnold & Porter filed an incident report for the theft.
The Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP PAC is funded by the law firm’s partners to contribute money to political candidates and campaigns.
The Arnold & Porter PAC maintains a bipartisan profile through its contributions to candidates and campaigns.
The committee contributed $141,000 to federal candidates during the 2024 election cycle, with about 42% of donations going to Democrats and about 58% going to Republicans, according to an analysis of federal data by OpenSecrets.
The theft from the Arnold & Porter PAC adds to a growing list of candidates and committees that have reported fraudulent activity in their federal disclosures. Political committees have experienced millions of dollars in theft over the last decade, and in many cases, PACs are never able to recoup their stolen funds.
Last year, a PAC for the accounting giant KPMG, the 7th largest consulting firm by global revenue, reported a $10,000 check was “fraudulently intercepted” and “altered and cashed by an unknown party,” the PAC wrote in a memo to the FEC. KPMG disputed the transaction with PNC Bank, but “was unable to recover the funds.”
An “unknown individual” scammed a PAC for the American Fintech Council, a leading financial technology trade association, out of nearly $2,500 by accessing the committee’s checkbook. When “the unknown party attempted to cash additional fraudulent checks,” the transactions were denied and the stolen funds were recovered by EagleBank.
Jonas Murphy, former director of government affairs at the National Venture Capital Association, pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of stolen property in December for what prosecutors allege amounted to more than $1 million in embezzlement from his trade association’s political committee, VenturePAC.
Among the Justice Department’s accusations: Murphy spent $67,000 in stolen funds on automotive country club membership in New York and $9,180 on a shopping spree at a Manhattan clothing boutique. Murphy is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on Thursday.
Political committees for members of Congress have also lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to theft this decade, according to federal campaign finance records.
This year alone, the leadership PAC of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), Oceans PAC, had more than $7,600 stolen by what a spokesperson called “an unaffiliated third party” in January.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) told federal regulators that a hacker stole more than $3,000 from his campaign committee in December. Booker’s PAC opened a new bank account to “prevent any future fraudulent activity.”
Whitehouse’s PAC was able to recoup the funds, but Booker’s campaign committee was unable to recover the stolen cash as of NOTUS’ May report on the matter.
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