Far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez flouted House ethics rules by accepting more than $3,700 in rented apparel and other gifts for her notorious appearance at the 2021 Met Gala — including a glitzy gown emblazoned with “Tax The Rich” in blood-red letters and a free ticket for her then-boyfriend Riley Roberts — but paying under $1,000 for the goodies.
The House Ethics Committee faulted the Bronx and Queens “Squad” member for not complying with its regulation on gifts and improperly giving Roberts a free ride to the $35,000-per-ticket annual charity event hosted by Vogue grande dame Anna Wintour — but said it wouldn’t sanction AOC further.
Fair-market value to rent the Brother Vellies couture dress designed by Aurora James with a retail price tag of more than $18,000 — as well as luxury shoes, jewelry, a floral hairpiece, and a handbag — amounted to $3,724.04, according to the 10-member panel.
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Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign stiffed vendors on the payments for months, and the congresswoman ultimately forked over just $990.76, the bulk of which was paid with personal funds.
The lefty pol’s reps also disputed costs listed on the initial invoice and tried to drive them down by offering comparisons to similar gowns listed on the website Rent the Runway.
“Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s attempt to apply a retail rental cost to a handmade couture gown was unrealistic,” the report stated flatly.
The 26-page report also found “most payments were not made until after repeated attempts at collection from unpaid vendors, threatened legal action, or following the initiation of OCC’s [Office of Congressional Conduct] review.”
The OCC’s initial review in 2022 had spurred the Ethics Committee to issue subpoenas, but a designer and publicist sat instead for voluntary interviews with the House panel.
The more-than-three-year investigation “did not find evidence” that Ocasio-Cortez intentionally underpaid for any goods or services” — but placed some blame on members of her staff, including ex-campaign manager Rebecca Rodriguez.
In one notable interaction, Rodriguez — who had been fired by 2023 — asked a publicist why an initial invoice for the gown amounted to $1,300. The amount was later reduced to $300.
Another $477.73 bill to a hairstylist went unpaid by Rodriguez for almost half a year, leading the stylist to threaten “to file a complaint with the NY Dept of Labor against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress.”
“[T]he Committee determined that no sanction was merited, provided Representative Ocasio-Cortez: (1) donates the $250 value of Mr. Roberts’ Met Gala meal to the Costume Institute and (2) pays Brother Vellies an additional $2,733.28 for the fair market value of the goods that she received in connection with her 2021 Met Gala attendance,” concluded the report, which the ethics panel unanimously voted to adopt in a closed-door session Tuesday.
Mike Casca, AOC’s chief of staff, said in a statement: “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 as a Member of the House. She accepts the ruling and will remedy the remaining amounts, as she’s done at each step in this process.”
House rules bar lawmakers from accepting gifts, with tickets to “charity” balls or “widely-attended” events for oneself and a spouse or child among the exceptions.
However, Wintour personally invited Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts to the soiree “as guests of Vogue” — rather than the Metropolitan Museum of Art or its Costume Institute — and directed a designer at Brother Vellies “to make a dress from scratch” for the occasion, putting the lawmaker in the crosshairs of the ethics committee.
In July 2021, with the gala just four months away, the designer claimed the demand by Wintour was “insane” because the designer fashioned shoes or handbags and “do[es]n’t make clothes.”
Staff instructed vendors to “keep costs down” but there were “multiple occasions where the Congresswoman and her team were met with responses from collaborators and involved companies to the effect of ‘Met Gala attendees don’t normally pay for this,’” AOC’s counsel said.
The rented shoes were valued at $635 and rented for $160. The Brother Vellies handbag had a retail price of $995 and a rental value of $157. Jewelry was rented for $78, and a paper hibiscus flower was bought for $35.
