(CNN) — New York Rep. Anthony D’Esposito’s campaign spent tens of thousands of donor dollars at steakhouses and bars, a foreign hostel and on unaccountable payments to a close aide and friend, according to a review of federal filings. Campaign finance experts who spoke with CNN said that the spending – and how it was reported, often lacking critical details – raised red flags that could lead to an ethics probe.
One of the most vulnerable House incumbents, D’Esposito is already facing questions on that front after The New York Times reported last month that he employed both his lover and his longtime fiancée’s daughter in his district office. He has denied acting unethically. Federal Election Commission filings from the launch of his first campaign in the spring of 2022 through the latest October quarterly filing found that the freshman Republican congressman’s campaign spent nearly $102,000 on food and beverage, including roughly $13,400 at steakhouses and approximately $7,700 at bars and $2,000 at liquor stores.
On two occasions, the campaign listed recipients simply as “Steak” – without naming a restaurant, grocer or retailer. The campaign also spent a little more than $43,000 on Ubers since August 2022. One Uber transaction from July 2024 cost a little more than $12,000.
D’Esposito campaign spokesman Matt Capp called the five-figure Uber charge “a reporting error of some sort.” In one eyebrow-raising section of the filings, the campaign spent .
