Another Republican congressman who was a fervent fan of former President Donald Trump lost a ton of campaign money to cyber criminals.
According to Federal Election Commission documents examined by Raw Story, the re-election campaign of two-term Republican Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas claimed that someone made a “unauthorized” withdrawal from its campaign account on July 7.
Despite the lack of evidence in federal campaign or business organization records, the funds were given to a group called “Misty J Productions.”
$157,626 in total was deducted from the Nehls for Congress committee.
“There was an unauthorized wire transfer initiated through fraudulent means on our campaign account,” Nehls spokesman Taylor Hulsey shared.
Federal records show that the Nehls campaign has so far recovered $137,626 of the missing funds.
Nehls’ office refuses to respond to inquiries about the fraud occurrence in particular, including whether or not there is currently an active criminal investigation and whether or not the culprit has been identified.
Hulsey did not go into detail on the precautions taken by the congressman’s campaign committee to thwart future theft attempts.
“We are unable to comment further as all information has been submitted to the FBI for criminal investigation,” Hulsey said.
In usual, the FBI declines to comment on ongoing investigations, so no comment was received from them.
Bank robberies are what Willie Sutton once said he did because “that’s where the money is.”
Political campaigns, which frequently amass large sums of money quickly but lack security safeguards that sufficiently preserve their hauls, have come under increased attack from cybercriminals and check trawlers.
Nehls’ financial difficulties is not uncommon.
Additionally, according to federal documents analyzed this month by Raw Story, former representative John Katko, a Republican who until January represented Central New York, was the victim of $14,000 in “fraudulent bank debits” on Christmas Eve.
According to Politico, Katko recently joined the lobbying firm HillEast Group in Washington, D.C. He did not reply to requests for comment.
Political campaigns, which frequently amass large sums of money quickly but lack security safeguards that sufficiently preserve their hauls, have come under increased attack from cybercriminals and check trawlers.
