As congressional candidates and political groups continue to be targeted by fraudsters, at least one of the recent victims has recovered six-figures worth of lost funds.
The Retired Americans PAC, a super PAC that supports Democrats, recouped more than $150,000 it lost in late 2022 after paying fraudulent bills sent to the committee, according to an April 21 letter to the Federal Election Commission.
According to the letter, an unknown actor outside of the Alliance for Retired Americans Political Action Fund, which is aligned with the super PAC, gained access to the committee’s emails and presented fraudulent bills to Retired Americans PAC — two each for $25,553.57 in December — that it paid. The committee says it recovered the lost money that month.
The Retired Americans PAC also lost money by paying two more fraudulent bills — one for $20,000 on Nov. 30 and another for $78,965 on Dec. 6, bringing the total of fraudulent bills to $150,072.14. The super PAC’s letter indicated that it also recovered this money, but it took longer, and it will formally note these recoveries in a future filing.
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“We don't have more to add to what we told the FEC. When we became aware of the fraud, we investigated and followed our procedures and were eventually able to recover funds,” Lisa Cutler, director of communications and digital strategies for the Alliance for Retired Americans, wrote in an email to Raw Story.
The Retired Americans PAC raised $4.9 million during the 2021-2022 election cycle, spending about $3.74 million, according to FEC records.
The super PAC spent $176,691.05 supporting opposition to Republican Mehmet Oz, who lost to Democrat John Fetterman in Pennsylvania’s 2022 U.S. Senate race. The super PAC spent $100,000 in opposition of Republican Blake Masters, who lost his bid for U.S. Senate in Arizona in the 2022 general election, as well.
The Retired Americans PAC spent money to oppose other federal-level Republican candidates, as well, including Herschel Walker, Lisa Scheller, Don Bolduc, Adam Laxalt and Ron Johnson.
But Retired Americans PAC’s largest single kind of expenditure was on fundraising consulting services — not directly advocating for or against political candidates, FEC records indicate.
Political theft epidemic
Raw Story in recent weeks has identified several current and former Republican members of Congress who’ve been victimized by fraudsters in what’s fast becoming open season on politicians’ campaign accounts.
The FBI got involved when Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) was the victim of a cybertheft incident late last year that initially cost the campaign $690,000. Other current and former members of Congress include Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas ($157,626), former Rep. John Katko of New York ($14,000), Rep. Neal Dunn of Florida ($10,855), Rep. Russell Fry of South Carolina ($2,607.98) and Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida ($362.04).
The Republican National Committee and Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) also experienced recent campaign cash thefts.
The problem isn’t unique to Republicans, either: In November, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s campaign fell victim to check fraud worth $10,085, and President Joe Biden’s 2020 Democratic presidential campaign committee lost at least $71,000.
One-time Democratic presidential candidate and congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and rapper-turned-2020 presidential candidate Ye, formerly Kanye West, are among others who reported money stolen from their political accounts.
Recently, the Business Industry Political Action Committee — the nation's oldest federal business— lost $14,156 to thieves, while the federal PAC of State Farm Insurance lost $12,220 to thieves, Raw Story first reported.
In March, the Energy Marketers of America Small Business Committee PAC reported to the FEC $5,000 in "check fraud" on a check meant to support the campaign of Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND).
The McKesson Corporation, a pharmaceutical and medical supplies company, informed the FEC that it, too, had fallen victim to someone who "created, forged and cashed a fictitious PAC check for $12,000" on Nov. 7.
The McKesson Company Employees Political Fund notified its bank "immediately upon discovery of the fraudulent activity" and attempted to secure return of the lost funds.
"To date," the committee added, "the bank has not returned the stolen funds."
The political action committees of Google, National Association of Manufacturers, Consumer Technology Association, National Association of Home Builders, National Air Traffic Controllers Association, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, MoveOn.org, and law firms Akerman LLP and Blank Rome LLP have also experienced theft of various kinds, be it cyber theft, forgeries or check tampering, according to Insider.