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Ethics Committee Fines AOC for 3K for “Impermissibly Accepted Gifts” Related to Met Gala

&NewLine;<p>Looks like left-wing firebrand Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez will be paying – literally &&num;8211&semi;&nbsp&semi; for her gaffes at the Met Gala&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The House Ethics Committee has closed its yearslong probe into the New York congresswoman and whether she accepted improper gifts in connection with her attendance at the high-profile event&comma; where she wore a white dress emblazoned with the phrase &&num;8220&semi;Tax the Rich&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In a 31-page report&comma; the panel said that Ocasio-Cortez had &&num;8220&semi;impermissibly accepted gifts&&num;8221&semi; and said that in order for the matter to be closed&comma; she would need to pay nearly &dollar;3&comma;000 in personal funds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>That includes &dollar;250 to cover the attendance of her fiancé&comma; Riley Roberts&comma; and an additional &dollar;2&comma;733&period;28 payment to Brother Vellies&comma; the business that designed her dress&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Her chief of staff&comma; Mike Casca&comma; told BI in a statement that she would make those payments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The Congresswoman appreciates the Committee finding that she made efforts to ensure her compliance with House Rules and sought to act consistently with her ethical requirements as a Member of the House&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Casca said&period; &&num;8220&semi;She accepts the ruling and will remedy the remaining amounts&comma; as she&&num;8217&semi;s done at each step in this process&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The committee said that Ocasio-Cortez had taken proactive steps to comply with House Ethics rules&comma; which include strict guidelines around accepting gifts&period; She nonetheless fell short&comma; though the committee said it had no evidence that she &&num;8220&semi;intentionally underpaid for any goods or services received in connection with the Met Gala&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The report said that the congresswoman&&num;8217&semi;s attempts to comply with the gift rules included arranging to rent the dress and accessories that she was provided with and to pay for other services out of pocket&comma; which are usually provided to Met Gala guests for free&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>However&comma; the committee said that her fiancé&&num;8217&semi;s attendance was an impermissible gift because he is not yet her spouse&comma; and that she initially failed to pay the full fair market value for some of the items she wore&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>According to the report&comma; Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts have already paid a total of &dollar;6&comma;853&period;75 for various services they received that night&comma; including transportation&comma; clothing rental&comma; and rooms at the Carlyle Hotel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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