May 10 2023, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
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Yiannopoulos then allegedly charged West $3,000 above cost for the “domain transfer” that same day, which created a series of concerns regarding the potential theft and conversion of campaign funds for Yiannopoulos’ own personal use.
According to Federal Election Commission receipts reviewed by The Daily Beast, Greene’s campaign – which Yiannopoulos was working on at the time – reported a $7,020.16 expense to the GoDaddy hosting service for “domain registration and hosting” on November 22, 2022.
West’s “Kanye 2020” committee then reported paying Yiannopoulos $9,995 that same day for a “domain transfer.”
Additional receipts reviewed by the outlet found that GoDaddy billed Greene’s senior campaign advisor, Isaiah Wartman, $7,020.16 for the “ye2024.com” domain name.
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At least one person with direct knowledge of the transaction claimed that Yiannopoulos personally oversaw the domain registration and subsequent transfer, although it is unclear whether Greene’s campaign team was aware of the more than $7,000 expense.
Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance law specialist who serves as the deputy executive director of the watchdog group Document, told The Daily Beast that Greene’s purchase of a web domain for West’s 2024 campaign would be deemed “an excessive and unreported in-kind contribution to his campaign.”
Fischer also revealed that Yiannopoulos “may have committed a range of serious violations—including, potentially, causing Greene’s campaign to file false reports with the government” if it is confirmed the 38-year-old alt-right commentator charged the congresswoman’s campaign credit card without the campaign’s knowledge.
Paul Ryan, another campaign finance expert who serves as deputy director of the Funder’s Committee for Civic Participation, echoed Fischer’s analysis of the situation and confirmed Yiannopoulos could face potential legal consequences if it is discovered he converted Greene’s political donations for personal use.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene
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“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 told The Daily Beast.
“This is arguably Milo converting Greene campaign funds to his personal benefit—and for a profit on top of that,” he added. “Was Milo stealing $7,000 from the Greene campaign for his benefit?”
Meanwhile, Yiannopoulos released a statement claiming that “the story is absolutely false from start to finish.”
Yiannopoulos also blamed the entire incident on a “junior staffer” on Greene’s 2022 House campaign team and indicated the more than $7,000 expense has been “refunded” to Congresswoman Greene.
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“The truth is a junior staffer made an error with the stored credit cards on a third-party vendor GoDaddy account, picking the one ending 2032 instead of 2002,” Yiannopoulos said. “The accident was quickly rectified and the correct card was charged. I have apologized privately to Marjorie for the mix-up.”
“I can tell you that it has been refunded,” he added.