OAN Staff James Meyers
4:44 PM – Wednesday, March 12, 2025
‘Squad’ member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been hit with an ethics complaint by a watchdog, accusing her of misusing taxpayer funds for dance classes.
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Americans for Public Trust, which is a private watchdog group that goes after corruption, alleged that Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), took money out of her Member Representative Allowance to give $3,700 to “Juan D Gonzalez” and $850 to “Bombazo Dance Co Inc” for what was described as “training” in December.
The watchdog on Tuesday filed a complaint and sent the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) and argued that the representative made the payments in “contravention of federal law and the standards of the House of Representatives.”
In response, Ocasio-Cortez has dismissed the payments that took place last December and seemingly implied they were campaign expenses, which the watchdog argued supports its case that the funds were misappropriated.
“100% wrong. None of this is taxpayer money, this is an FEC filing. Be loud and wrong about something else. Try again next time,” she wrote on X Saturday in response to the probe.
Americans for Public Trust disputed Ocasio-Cortez’s assertion that the payments were made with campaign cash by pointing to a section in the 1,120-page list of House disbursements between October 1st, 2024, and December 31st, 2024.
“Representative Ocasio-Cortez has made expenditures from her official office account that she herself contends should have been reported to the FEC, presumably because they were made for campaign purposes,” the watchdog wrote in its complaint.
“If it is revealed that Representative Ocasio-Cortez has demonstrated a pattern of using her taxpayer-funded MRA to pay her campaign expenses, we further request a full investigation be commenced by your office.”
Bombazo Dance Co Inc. is a youth dance organization based in the Bronx. The dance company posted a video on their Facebook page showing Ocasio-Cortez slamming on drums and dancing with other people at the company in December.
However, details of the “Juan D Gonzalez” who received the payments form the New York Democrat are still unclear.
Member Representational Allowance is a fund that the House provides members to help pay for official expenses related to staff compensation, travel, rent, printing documents, mail, equipment and more.
In fiscal year 2023, the House allocated roughly $810 million for the Member Representational Allowance, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Meanwhile, Americans for Public Trust is calling on the OCE to conduct a more thorough review of the congresswoman’s use of allowance funds.
Ocasio-Cortez has faced ethics complaints in the past.
In 2023, she was investigated over the 2021 Met Gala and revelations that she received a free ticket to attend the star-studded New York City charity event.
She also received a discounted rate for renting an expensive white Brother Vellies dress, which featured the bright red words “Tax the Rich” as well as a handbag that she carried at the gala.
Representatives are not allowed to receive free gifts for the most part, barring certain exceptions, but the Met Gala was not one of them.
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