California Democratic Rep. Tony Cárdenas accepted thousands of dollars from a registered lobbyist to his legal defense fund long after the alleged victim dismissed a lawsuit against him, according to a government watchdog group.
On Friday, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) filed a complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics calling for an investigation into whether the lobbyist cash violated House rules.
“A legal defense fund is barred from accepting contributions from a registered lobbyist, but in this case, it appears that Rep. Cárdenas’ legal defense fund did just that,” Kendra Arnold, FACT’s executive director, told Fox News Digital.
The cash in question went to a defense fund that Cárdenas established after facing accusations that he had sexually assaulted a minor in a 2018 lawsuit, which the alleged victim agreed to toss in September 2019. Cárdenas racked up around $150,000 in legal bills over the ordeal, and his legal defense fund had disbursed about $148,000 at the time of its dismissal.
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Politicians may establish such funds with donations capped at $5,000 per individual or organization annually. Lobbyists, meanwhile, are prohibited from donating to them.
“A legal expense fund shall be terminated at the earlier of either the fulfillment of the legal expense funds’ purpose, the end of the time period for which the legal expense fund was established, or at the Committee’s direction for non-compliance with legal expense fund regulations,” FACT’s complaint states.
Cárdenas’ fund continued raking in donor cash well after the lawsuit’s dismissal, including from Catherine Pino, the founder and co-CEO of D&P Creative Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm that focuses on “inclusive and equitable advocacy.”
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Pino pushed a $2,000 donation to Cárdenas’…
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