The Federal Election Commission sent a letter to Kanye West’s presidential committee on New Year’s Eve, seeking clarification on campaign expenditures after regulators flagged $21,525 the rapper spent on legal fees, financial services, and travel expenses following his failed bid for president in 2020.
The letter, which accused the campaign of an “unauthorized disbursement” from May to August in 2023, also cautioned West’s new treasurer — Hassan A. Sheikh — to comply with the regulatory investigation promptly or face an audit or other enforcement action.
“Although the Commission may take further legal action regarding this apparent improper use of Committee funds, any further clarifying information that you can provide will be taken into consideration,” the letter stated.
The latest tumult comes after West’s attorney declared that he is no longer running for the White House and eight months after the abrupt departure of campaign treasurer Patrick Kranson, who accused West’s current campaign manager, Milo Yiannopoulos, of violating federal campaign finance laws, claiming he “submitted falsified invoices and expenditures that would be deemed unlawful” in 2022.
A recent report by Politico revealed a complaint letter written by Kranson to the FEC that called attention to an expense for a digital asset for which Yiannopoulos allegedly sought reimbursement from West’s campaign and the campaign of Republican Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, whom he worked with as an intern in 2022.
Later, Yiannopoulos denied the accusations, telling the investigative news outlet he wouldn’t “give any credence [to] ridiculous, ridiculous and easily disproven claims.”
Devin White — who served as West’s treasurer at the time of the suspect transactions — admitted that he reported the expenses, which covered his treasurer fees and a trip he took to Washington this past summer to meet with powerful election attorney Bruce Fein in an effort to fix the campaign’s chaotic financial records and to investigate the claims against Yiannopoulos.
In a statement to RadarOnline.com, White said there was nothing to hide and that his admission would serve to make the government inquiry an open-and-shut case.
“It’s a non-factor,” White said, according to the outlet. “They have no leg to stand on,” he added, referring to any potential legal action by the FEC.
Previously, West fired Yiannopoulos from the 2024 campaign, but the controversial right-wing commentator has since rejoined the fold despite continuing efforts by Fein to expose alleged campaign violations, which could result in criminal charges.
Yiannopoulos, a British national, claimed he arranged the infamous dinner between West, former President Donald Trump, and white supremacist Nick Fuentes at Trump’s lavish Mar-a-Lago mansion in November 2022 — around the same time that West began making anti-Semitic comments in the media.
The same day of the sit-down at Trump’s compound, Yiannopoulos used a credit card belonging to Rep. Greene’s campaign to pay $7,000 for a website domain for West’s 2024 presidential campaign on GoDaddy, according to a report last May by the Daily Beast.
West first appeared on the FEC radar shortly after he declared his candidacy in July 2020, while the campaign was marred by numerous controversies up until Election Day.
The government accused West’s campaign of making “false or fictitious” filings as the rapper scrambled to submit the federal paperwork required to run for president.
In at least two filings, West gave his name in conflicting ways, including the monickers “Ye West” and “Mr. Kenya Omari West,” while listing 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. as his address.
While the mistakes by West appear egregious, the FEC noted that such filings were common as the commission regularly receives “lots of false and fictitious filings.”
In 2016, the commission established an “interim verification procedure,” which led to official notices to filers who listed themselves as “fictional characters, obscene language, sexual references, celebrities (where there is no indication that the named celebrity submitted the filing), animals, or similarly implausible entries as the name or contact information.”
A month after he declared, West accused the Wisconsin Democratic Party of spying on his campaign after Democrats filed a complaint with the state election commission, alleging the rap star submitted late paperwork and fake signatures to become eligible for the ballot in the swing state.
West also entered the race late in the game, filing his paperwork on July 15 with the Federal Election Commission as an independent candidate.
West officially announced his 2020 bid for the White House on July 19, 2020, in South Carolina, where he delivered a disturbing campaign speech in which he proposed a $1 million payout to Black mothers, slammed abolitionist Harriet Tubman and sobbed uncontrollably after revealing that he asked his then-wife Kim Kardashian to consider aborting their first child.
As the campaign seemed to gain some traction, reports surfaced that Republicans around the country were helping West qualify for ballots in key states after he apparently missed the deadlines to file, raising suspicions he was being pressured to run by Trump allies who aimed to steal support from Joe Biden.
West was removed from the ballot in his home state of Illinois, where election officials say more than half his submitted signatures were invalid.
West garnered only 70,000 votes across the nation despite overwhelming popularity in fashion and music, and after he invested $13 million of his own money in the campaign.
