New York firebrand accepted ‘impermissible gifts,’ House Ethics Committee rules
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) violated House Ethics rules after she attended the 2021 Met Gala in her infamous “Tax the Rich” dress, the House Ethics Committee ruled Friday, ordering her to repay a fashion designer nearly $3,000 for the gown.
The committee found that Ocasio-Cortez accepted “impermissible gifts” during her participation in the ritzy event, including her custom-made dress and the rented luxury shoes and jewelry she wore at the gala. The fair market value of the rented clothing and accessories Ocasio-Cortez wore to the event clocked in at $3,700, but the New York lawmaker ultimately repaid those vendors under $1,000—payments she made months after the event and only after one of her stiffed vendors threatened to file a legal complaint against her campaign, the committee report notes.
The 10-member bipartisan committee, which is led by an even mix of Republican and Democratic members of the House, declined to sanction Ocasio-Cortez so long as she pays Brother Vellies, the company that designed her dress and provided her accessories, an additional $2,700 to account for the fair market value of her rented goods. The committee also ordered Ocasio-Cortez to donate $250 to the Costume Institute, the charity that operates the Met Gala, to make up for the cost of the meal her then-boyfriend Riley Roberts enjoyed at the event. The ruling was unanimous.
The Ethics Committee placed much of the blame for Ocasio-Cortez’s payment delinquency on her staffers, writing in a report that it found no evidence that she “intentionally underpaid for any goods or services received in connection with the Met Gala” and that “most discussions about payment were handled through a campaign staffer.”
Ocasio-Cortez “accepts the ruling and will remedy the remaining amounts, as she’s done each step in this process,” her chief of staff, Mike Casa, said in a statement Friday to the New York Post. “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.”
The ruling brings to a close a nearly four-year-long saga that began when Ocasio-Cortez stole the show at the 2021 Met Gala in her “Tax the Rich” dress. Her attendance at the event, where tickets were valued at $35,000 each, immediately raised red flags at several government ethics watchdog groups, which filed complaints alleging that the New York lawmaker violated the House’s “gift rule” when she attended the event.
An attorney for the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), one of the watchdog groups that filed a complaint against Ocasio-Cortez, hailed the Ethics Committee’s ruling.
“We’re very pleased that after four years of a thorough investigation of NLPC’s ethics complaint against AOC, the House Ethics Committee ruled she must repay some $3,000 to the vendors,” the attorney, Paul Kamenar, told the Washington Free Beacon. “AOC apparently thinks she can ignore ethics rules and place blame on her staff and others.”
The several complaints from the National Legal and Policy Center and other watchdog groups spurred an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics, which ruled in March 2023 that Ocasio-Cortez likely violated House ethics rules during her Met Gala appearance. That office noted in its report that Ocasio-Cortez likely wouldn’t have made any payments to her vendors had it not launched its inquiry into her conduct.
Among those stiffed vendors was Ocasio-Cortez’s hairstylist, who threatened to file a complaint with the New York Department of Labor against her campaign in February.
The Office of Congressional Ethics, which does not have the authority to penalize lawmakers, referred Ocasio-Cortez to the House Ethics Committee in March 2023.
