GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert reportedly used campaign funds for rent and utilities for her restaurant “Shooters Grill” in Rifle, Colorado, in violation of federal law, The Denver Post reported Thursday.
A new filing submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this week revealed that Boebert reimbursed the campaign $6,650 worth of payments for rent and utilities that were billed to the campaign through Venmo “in error.”
The filing shows that four payments for rent and utilities — two of which were priced at $2,000 and the others at $1,325 each — were amended to reflect payments of the same amount, description and on the same days to John Pachecho.
According to The Post, Pachecho’s address is the same as Shooters Grill in Rifle, which is owned by Boebert.
The questionable filing was first discovered in the July campaign finance report of the “Lauren Boebert for Congress” committee, according to the Post. Payments made out to Venmo were described as “Personal expense of Lauren Boebert billed to campaign account “in error.” The expense has been reimbursed.”
The FEC had asked Boebert’s campaign why it sent her $6,650 via Venmo in four different transactions on May 3 and June 3. The campaign said the payments were made in error and had been reimbursed.
The next month, when officials at the FEC asked the campaign for more information regarding the error, Boebert’s spokesperson Jake Settle told Forbes that he would describe the payments as “personal expenses.”
The FEC’s Senior Campaign Finance Analyst Shannon Ringgold, however, wrote to Boebert’s campaign in August that if the payments were “personal use of campaign funds, the Commission may consider taking further legal action.”
“However, prompt action to obtain reimbursement of the funds in question will be taken into consideration,” she added.
In the filing submitted on Tuesday, Boebert’s campaign again said the expenses were reimbursed and would be reported by the campaign in October.
The revelation that Boebert used campaign funds to pay for rent and utilities comes after her August financial disclosure showed that her husband, Jayson Boebert, received $478,000 from Terra Energy Productions last year for “consulting services,” which she did not report during her campaign.
He also received $460,000 from the same firm in 2019.
