Deadbeat socialist is never a good look but that’s the picture this new report paints of AOC’s behavior in this matter. Remember this from back in 2021?

You can’t make this stuff up – @aoc attends the Met Gala (how much does a ticket go for?) wearing a dress that has got to cost a fortune…but it has a cool woke message “tax the rich”….maybe instead tax the dress? It actually might yield more pic.twitter.com/BQOp13mv4o

— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) September 14, 2021

AOC wore the “Tax the rich” dress to the Met Gala in September and soon after a watchdog group filed an ethics complaint. Ed wrote about it at the time. While the Gala takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the entire thing is actually run by a private company, Condé Nast. A ticket to that event has a substantial monetary value. Also, the dress itself, which AOC said she rented for the occasion, wasn’t free.

In December of 2022, the House Ethics Committee announced it was investigating the issue. At the time a spokesperson for AOC Yahoo News they were confident the matter would eventually be dismissed: “The Congresswoman has always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations, or other special interests. We are confident that this matter will be dismissed..”

Today, the the Office of Congressional Ethics issued a report stating, “there is substantial reason to believe that she accepted impermissible gifts associated with her attendance at the Met Gala in 2021.” It also appears that AOC claimed she was going to pay for all of the goods and services out of pocket but then didn’t do so until after the ethics investigation was opened.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez told the OCE that while she would pay for the above-described services with her personal funds, Campaign Staffer was tasked with making the actual payments. As discussed in more detail below, while the services identified above have been paid for as of the date of this report, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez neglected to pay for these services until after the OCE opened this review. Thus, despite various efforts to address compliance concerns in advance of the Met Gala through counsel, and despite representations to the Committee regarding compliance with House rules,52 it appears several thousands of dollars’ worth of services may have remained unpaid absent the OCE initiating this review.

This is followed by a list of services she received at or prior to the Gala and describes in more detail how AOC’s office refused to pay for them for months after the Gala.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez had her hair done by Stylist 1 on September 13, 2021 in preparation for the Met Gala. This hair service was arranged for and coordinated by employees at Condé
Nast in connection with the Vogue video.

On September 21, 2021, Condé Nast advised the agency representing Stylist 1 – Streeters –that billing would be handled by Campaign Staffer, and copied Campaign Staffer on that
email. On September 30, 2021, Streeters provided Campaign Staffer with a $477.73 bill for services.

Between September 30, 2021 and February 24, 2022, the bill for hair services went unpaid. During this time, Streeters’ accounts receivable department made repeated attempts to secure
payment, culminating in a February 23, 2022 email threating to “file a complaint with [New York City’s Office of Labor Policy and Standards for Workers] against Alexandria Ocasio Cortez for Congress if payment is not deposited before end of business tomorrow.”

On February 24, 2022, two days after the OCE first contacted Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s staff about this review, Campaign Staffer paid for Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s hair styling services.

The report says AOC reminded the staffer to pay the bills “periodically” which proves she knew they hadn’t been paid. Almost exactly the same thing happened with the bill for makeup:

On September 17, 2021, the agency representing Stylist 2 – The Wall Group – invoiced Condé Nast for $344.85.63. On September 21, 2021, Condé Nast advised The Wall Group that billing would be handled by Campaign Staffer, and copied Campaign Staffer on that email. On September 23, 2021, The Wall Group asked Campaign Staffer to provide a billing address for the invoice. It does not appear this was provided as the Wall Group attempted, unsuccessfully, to have Condé Nast pay for the bill in or around January 2022. Condé Nast rejected that payment request on January 13, 2022, and provided the email address for Campaign Staffer as the appropriate billing point of contact.

Between January 13, 2022 and February 24, 2022, The Wall Group’s collections team made repeated attempts to secure payment from Campaign Staffer, noting on multiple occasions that the invoice was “EXTREMEMLY overdue.” Campaign Staffer initially attempted to pay the outstanding bill on February 24, 2022, two days after the OCE first contacted Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s staff, but the payment was rejected. Campaign Staffer finally made payment for the service on March 16, 2022.

The situation with the dress was even more sketchy. The dress, handbag and jewelry, which were clearly designed and made for AOC, were considered rentals. The valuation of the onetime rental for this custom dress was left to the designer and the company.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Campaign Staffer told the OCE that they were not involved in the rental valuations – that was left to the discretion of Ms. James.

Except that’s not how it worked out. In fact, the company sent two different invoices for the rental as you can see here.

In between those two there was a phone call from AOC’s staffer:

Campaign Staffer acknowledged calling Ms. Pea to discuss the original bill. Campaign Staffer told the OCE that she understood that the shoes would be rentals, and not a purchase, so she “flagged that for [Pea].” She also told the OCE that she “want[ed] to confirm the gown rental price [was] correct.” According to Campaign Staffer, prior to the Met Gala, she had some general discussions regarding overall rental costs and was told a final bill would likely be around a thousand dollars. Because the original bill had an error regarding the shoe purchase and was higher than expected, Campaign Staffer asked Ms. Pea to confirm the overall bill was correct.

Campaign Staffer could not explain why the gown rental costs were reduced from $1,300 to $300. The OCE sought to interview Ms. Pea on these matters, but she declined to cooperate.

Again, this was a custom dress made for AOC and when her office got a $2,300 bill for a one night rental they complained and suddenly the entire bill dropped to under $1,000. But of course, the office didn’t pay that bill either, at least not prior to the opening of the ethics investigation. After eventually paying the discounted bill, AOC’s lawyer contacted the designer and asked what else they owed for other services related to the Gala. It turned out she owed another $5,500.

As set forth below, in an April 15, 2022 letter, counsel for Aurora James and Brother Vellies identified $5,579.99 worth of unpaid goods and services provided to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Riley Roberts, including transportation services to the Met Gala, room usage at the Carlyle Hotel, and shoes and a bowtie for Riley Roberts.

Again, AOC knew these bills hadn’t been paid because they were supposed to be going on her personal credit card. Here’s her explanation for why it didn’t happen.

When asked about the delays in payments for the variety of goods and services described above, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged “there was a ball that was dropped” and described
the situation as “deeply regrettable.”

Mistakes were made, balls were dropped and other vague statements made in the passive voice. She was thrilled to get all sorts of media attention for this at the time but paying her bills just wasn’t a priority until she got caught. Next time maybe AOC should consider wearing a custom dress that reads “Pay your debts.”

Finally, this report isn’t a final determination, merely a recommendation that the Committee on Ethics subpoena the designer and other folks who refused to talk so the investigation can go forward.