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New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s campaign has returned about $9,000 in possibly illegal foreign donations. The socialist’s campaign had taken nearly $13,000 from overseas donations, the New York Post reported earlier this month. Two criminal referrals were filed against Mamdani’s campaign over the donations on Tuesday by the Coolidge Reagan Foundation. Mamdani’s campaign says the remaining $4,000 comes from American citizens living overseas, which are legal donations. The campaign refunded about $4,000 from 67 overseas donors during the filing period between Sept. 8 and Oct. 20, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board. One donation came from Ada Diaz Ahmed, a Dubai-based investor, who lent the Mamdani campaign the maximum $2,100. Mamdani’s campaign continued to receive donations from abroad recently, taking in $130 total from three people in London, Australia, and Germany this month. Click here to read the full news story.

Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has come under scrutiny for accepting money from foreign donors. The Coolidge Reagan Foundation, a campaign finance watchdog, referred the campaign to both the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, citing alleged violations of both the Federal Election Campaign Act and the New York Election Code. Mamdani accepted more than $13,000 from at least 170 donors, of all whom maintain addresses outside of the United States, according to campaign finance records. To legally contribute to a political campaign, donors must either be U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents, which calls into question these specific contributions. “These are not isolated incidents or clerical errors,” Dan Backer, president of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, told Fox News. “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.” The Mamdani campaign claims that of the 170 foreign donors, 31 have proven their citizenship or permanent residency, and the rest have received refunds for their donations. “The law is crystal clear that foreign nationals may not participate in American elections, and that includes making contributions,” Backer said. “Yet Mamdani’s campaign repeatedly accepted donations from individuals abroad, some even tied to regions and individuals openly sympathetic to hostile actors.” The Coolidge Reagan Foundation has previously filed complaints against New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and the Democratic National Committee. Click here to read the full news story.

New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani was hit with two criminal referrals Tuesday filed by a campaign finance watchdog accusing the lefty socialist of accepting illegal contributions from foreign donors. The Coolidge Reagan Foundation filed the referrals – alleging Mamdani may have violated the Federal Election Campaign Act and New York Election Code – with the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office on Tuesday. The referrals were filed after The Post reported earlier this month Mamdani’s campaign raked in nearly $13,000 in contributions from at least 170 donors with addresses outside the US – including one from his mother-in-law in Dubai. “These are not isolated incidents or clerical errors,” Dan Backer, a national campaign finance expert and president of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, said in a statement. “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,” Backer added. “Mamdani’s campaign was on notice for months that it was accepting illegal foreign contributions, and yet it did nothing meaningful to stop it.” The Coolidge Reagan Foundation – which has previously lodged complaints against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee –  urged Bragg and the DOJ to investigate and prosecute Mamdani over the potentially illegal campaign cash, which flowed in from Australia, Turkey, France, Canada, Germany and other countries. The group argued Mamdani’s campaign has demonstrated a “systematic failure to comply” with campaign finance laws. Under the Federal Election Campaign Act it is unlawful to “accept or receive” contributions from foreign nationals in any federal, state, or local election. Violators who knowingly accept foreign donations could face hefty fines and imprisonment. Click here to read the full news story.

The Federal Election Commission confirmed it opened an investigation into Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., for allegedly taking illegal campaign contributions and attempting to conceal them from required federal reporting. The FEC is responding to a complaint from conservative advocacy group the Coolidge Reagan Foundation based on a separate investigation done by an internal congressional watchdog. The complaint is under review and will be “referred to the Enforcement Division of the Office of the General Counsel,” wrote Wanda D. Brown, assistant general counsel for complaints examination and legal administration at the FEC, in an Aug. 19 letter to the foundation. The FEC review is in addition to a pending House Ethics Committee probe of the Florida congresswoman stemming from the same internal congressional watchdog investigation. “Money has moved around a web of entities with a bunch of family members on the boards [of those entities],” Dan Backer, a Washington lawyer representing the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, told The Daily Signal. In its FEC complaint, the foundation alleges 12 violations against Cherfilus-McCormick. Click here to read the full news story.

A conservative group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) over ActBlue donations that allegedly violated federal election law. The complaint, filed with the FEC late last month by the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, accuses the congresswoman’s campaign of failing to disclose a contributor’s identity properly and accepting contributions in the name of another. Click here to read the full news story.