The transactions are coming to light after Ye’s latest treasurer, Patrick Krason, resigned on Monday—the second treasurer to jump ship within the last six months. A leaked internal email, firstby Politico, shows Krason expressing concern that Yiannopoulos had “submitted falsified invoices for expenditures that would be deemed unlawful.” Treasurers carry personal liability for the accuracy and truthfulness of each report they submit to the government, under penalty of law.
Fischer also noted that if Yiannopoulos charged the Greene campaign’s card without the campaign’s knowledge, “then he may have committed a range of serious violations—including, potentially, causing Greene’s campaign to file false reports with the government.” “The law is broadly understood as preventing candidates from converting funds to their personal use, but the plain language of the statute suggests that this ban applies to anyone, not just the candidate,” Ryan said. “This is arguably Milo converting Greene campaign funds to his personal benefit—and for a profit on top of that. Was Milo stealing $7,000 from the Greene campaign for his benefit?”
He observed that the transaction on its face “looks fraudulent,” adding that if Yiannopoulos used the campaign card for his own purposes, “he would need to repay the Greene campaign—otherwise it’s potentially a criminal area.” Asked for comment, Yiannopoulos—who last year served six months as an intern in Greene’s office—told The Daily Beast that “the story is absolutely false from start to finish.” However, he also provided a statement he had previously shared on his Telegram social media account that appears to confirm the events, and acknowledged to The Daily Beast that the Greene credit card purchase was made through his personal GoDaddy account.
Asked on Monday when the payment had been “rectified,” Yiannopoulos would only tell The Daily Beast that “I can tell you that it has been refunded.” If he had refunded the money before March 31, however, that transaction would appear to have gone unreported in the campaign’s FEC filings.