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Ocasio-Cortez must pay ethics fine over infamous dress at Met Gala

Ocasio-Cortez relied on a campaign staffer to determine a price she would pay for costs related to the event. The report added that the designer may have “lowered costs in response to statements” from the staffer.

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Ocasio-Cortez will accept the decision of the House Ethics Committee, which is composed of five Republicans and five Democrats, and move to “remedy the remaining amounts.” File Image.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, will have to pay nearly $3,000 in costs related to her wearing an expensive dress to the Met Gala four years ago.

 

Members of the House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday saying that Ocasio-Cortez “proactively took steps to comply” with the rules, but that she nevertheless “failed to fully comply with the gift rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event.”

 

 

The white dress she wore to the Met Gala that year was emblazoned with the phrase “Tax the Rich” in large red letters, generating news headlines and controversy for the progressive lawmaker.

 

Ocasio-Cortez relied on a campaign staffer to determine a price she would pay for costs related to the event. The report added that the designer may have “lowered costs in response to statements” from the staffer.

 

The lawmaker was therefore asked to “make additional payments of personal funds to compensate for the fair market value of certain expenses.” That included over $2,700 for her clothes and a $250 donation for the ticket used by her partner and now-fiance.

 

 

Mike Casca, the chief of staff for Ocasio-Cortez, said in a statement to the media that “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.”

 

Ocasio-Cortez will accept the decision of the House Ethics Committee, which is composed of five Republicans and five Democrats, and move to “remedy the remaining amounts” as she has “done at each step of this process.”

 

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