Accounting giant KPMG’s political action committee cannot account for a $10,000 check it recently issued, according to a document reviewed by NOTUS.
It’s the latest in a series of high-profile thefts from political committees that, taken together, have fraudulently drained millions of dollars this decade from their accounts.
A KPMG PAC check sent in October to an unnamed “federal committee” was “fraudulently intercepted” and “altered and cashed by an unknown party,” the PAC wrote in a recent memo to the Federal Election Commission.
Upon discovering the fraudulent activity, KPMG PAC filed a police report with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department and disputed the transaction with its bank, PNC Bank, the PAC told federal regulators. KPMG PAC confirmed on July 16 that PNC Bank “was unable to recover the funds from the unknown party.”
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KPMG spokesman Russ Grote declined to comment. A D.C. police report obtained by NOTUS indicates that KPMG PAC’s check was made out to the National Republican Congressional Committee.
KPMG PAC reported about $460,000 remaining in its account entering August after making several four- and five-figure political contributions in July, including to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Republican Rep. Troy Downing and Democratic Reps. Pete Aguilar and Grace Meng.
The accounting firm is a major government contractor, earning hundreds of millions of dollars in federal business annually, particularly through the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Energy and Justice, according to records maintained by USASpending.gov.
In April, the reelection committee of House Speaker Mike Johnson lost almost the same amount — $9,995.50 — as KPMG PAC. Johnson’s theft also involved someone swiping a paper check, OpenSecrets reported.
But political thefts come in a variety of forms.
Take the campaign committee of Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, which cyberthieves successfully targeted to steal nearly $700,000 from in 2022. Moran’s committee got hit again this year, albeit for only a few hundred dollars, according to FEC records.
The campaigns of top leaders — former President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — count themselves among political theft victims.
So, too, does the campaign of Tulsi Gabbard, the former congresswoman who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020 and now serves as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.
In past years, thieves have also struck the Republican National Committee, the Wisconsin Republican Party, the Oregon Republican Party, the anti-Trump super PAC Lincoln Project and the Democratic-supporting Retired Americans PAC.
A thief used the National Republican Congressional Committee’s credit card to purchase $2,425 worth of merchandise at retailers Canada Goose and Fendi in late 2024.
DHS acknowledges that “political campaigns are facing cyber-attacks of varied sophistication.” It therefore recommends committees take several steps to defend against “malicious actors.” Suggestions range from the basic — using strong passwords and two-factor authentication — to developing a “cyber incident” action plan.
The FEC, meanwhile, advises any political committee that’s experienced theft to immediately notify law enforcement and amend or update their federal campaign finance reports to account for the misappropriated funds.
It also recommends that political committees limit the number of people authorized to sign checks, carefully control bank cards and mail paper checks “promptly and directly to the payees.”
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This story has been updated to note that the National Republican Congressional Committee was the intended recipient of KMPG PAC’s check.
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