Mamdani faces criminal referrals over alleged foreign donations to NYC mayoral campaign
FIRST ON FOX: With one week until the high-stakes Election Day in New York City, a campaign finance watchdog group, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, filed two criminal referrals against the...
By Fox News · Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: With one week until the high-stakes Election Day in New York City, a campaign finance watchdog group, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, filed two criminal referrals against the Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday. A review of finance reports earlier this month revealed that Mamdani's campaign had accepted nearly $13,000 from at least 170 donors from outside the United States, raising questions about his campaign's financial compliance, as only U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents are permitted to contribute to American political campaigns. "These are not isolated incidents or clerical errors," Dan Backer, a national campaign finance expert and president of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, told Fox News Digital. "This was a sustained pattern of foreign money flowing into a New York City mayoral race which is a clear violation of both federal law and New York City campaign finance rules. Mamdani’s campaign was on notice for months that it was accepting illegal foreign contributions, and yet it did nothing meaningful to stop it." CRF sent the criminal referrals to Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday morning, citing potential violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act, which makes it unlawful to "accept or receive" contributions from foreign nationals in any federal, state or local election. MAMDANI PROPOSES MASSIVE AMOUNT OF LEGAL DEFENSE FUNDING FOR IMMIGRANTS IN 'TRUMP-PROOFING' NYC PLAN "The law is crystal clear that foreign nationals may not participate in American elections, and that includes making contributions. Yet Mamdani’s campaign repeatedly accepted donations from individuals abroad," Backer added, arguing that "whether through negligence or intent, this conduct undermines the integrity of the democratic process." ZOHRAN MAMDANI'S $1M FUNDRAISING HAUL FUELED BY OUT-OF-STATE DONORS, DATA REVEALS The D…