❓WHAT HAPPENED: Democrat New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing two criminal referrals over alleged campaign finance violations.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Zohran Mamdani, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, and campaign finance expert Dan Backer.
📍WHEN & WHERE: New York City mayoral race, 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “These are not isolated incidents or clerical errors.” – Dan Backer
🎯IMPACT: Allegations of foreign contributions could lead to fines, but enforcement appears unlikely.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party’s socialist nominee in New York City‘s mayoral race, is under scrutiny following two criminal referrals filed by the Coolidge Reagan Foundation. The complaints allege that Mamdani, a Ugandan immigrant, accepted nearly $13,000 from at least 170 donors located outside the United States, which would be a violation of federal and local campaign finance laws.
Dan Backer, president of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation and a national campaign finance expert, stated, “These are not isolated incidents or clerical errors.” He further asserted that this represented “a sustained pattern of foreign money flowing into a New York City mayoral race,” accusing the campaign of failing to take meaningful action to prevent such violations despite being “on notice for months.”
The Mamdani campaign has responded by claiming that 31 of the 170 donors have proven their citizenship or legal permanent residence, and that the remaining 139 donations have been refunded. However, the criminal referral argues that refunding questionable donations does not rectify the violation.
“Despite being well aware of this influx of illegal foreign contributions, it appears he did nothing throughout most of 2025 to prevent his campaign from accepting them in the first place,” reads the referral. Notably, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) can only impose fines, and local prosecutors are unlikely to pursue charges.
The National Pulse reported in July that during the Democratic Party’s New York City mayoral primary, Mamdani’s campaign was bolstered by political dark money operations, including over $2 million in PAC spending, mostly from Silicon Valley billionaires and a cadre of elite Democratic Party donors.
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