Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ joint fundraising committee got swindled this spring.
Team Rogers, a joint fundraising committee for the Michigan Republican, flagged a “fraudulent transaction” worth about $16,700 in its most recent report to the Federal Election Commission. It’s the latest in a long line of financial crimes targeting political campaigns and committees.
Alyssa Brouillet, a spokesperson for the Rogers campaign, told NOTUS the political committee had unknowingly paid a fraudulent invoice on April 21 after a vendor’s email had been hacked.
“The invoice appeared to be received in the normal course of business and was approved for payment through normal channels,” Brouillet wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately, a week later, Team Rogers was notified that the vendor’s email had been hacked and that the invoice was fraudulent.”
Trending
Rogers, who is poised to face the winner of the Democratic primary between Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, did not get the money back.
“Despite an immediate request from Team Rogers, the bank was unable to recall the funds due to insufficient funds in the fraudulent account,” Brouillet wrote. She did not address a question from NOTUS asking if the committee had filed a police report or was taking legal action.
On his campaign website, Rogers notes that he is “passionate about the field of cyber security, working with companies large and small to protect their data from criminals and bad-acting countries like China.”
The lost money is a fraction of the nearly $922,000 the committee reported spending between April and June. As of June 30, Team Rogers reported raising almost $1.5 million this election cycle, most of which it splits among Rogers’ campaign and leadership PAC, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a pro-Rogers super PAC known as GLCF Inc.
Unauthorized withdrawals from political campaigns and committees — often by trusted treasurers or advisers — have cost those groups millions of dollars since campaign finance regulators noticed an uptick in the crime two decades ago.
Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) are among elected officials to experience recent campaign thefts.
In January, the American Fintech Council’s PAC reported losing $2,500 after “fraudulent transactions,” money it was able to recoup.
Meanwhile, two Democratic candidates accused their political consultant of embezzlement — allegations her lawyer denied when contacted by the Philadelphia Inquirer in March.
In March, federal prosecutors charged a campaign treasurer of taking a combined $200,000 from two clients — a Maryland state delegate campaign and a community organization — to refinance a loan on his yacht.
And in May, NOTUS reported that the daughter of the Seafarers International Union president allegedly embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from union-linked PACs.
Author
