'Brazenly violated federal laws': GOP Senate candidate allegedly spent donor money at strip club

06 June 2024

One Republican U.S. Senate hopeful has been targeted by a new Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint filed by an anti-corruption watchdog group.

The Daily Beast reported Thursday that Royce White, who is a leading GOP candidate for Minnesota's Republican U.S. Senate primary, is in hot water over allegedly misspending money donated to his failed 2022 U.S. House campaign. According to the compliant filed by the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), White "unlawfully converted campaign funds to personal use." The group also alleged that White's various campaign committees "violated federal reporting requirements."

"White misappropriated over $157,000 from his 2022 campaign committee, Royce White for Congress, to pay for personal expenses — including siphoning over $100,000 through checks, wire transfers, and cash withdrawals from the campaign’s account, as well as making dozens of payments for entertainment, clothing, cosmetics, fitness clubs and other expenses of a personal nature, which would have existed irrespective of White’s campaign," CLC stated on its website.

In his 2022 congressional campaign, White allegedly spent $9,000 in donor funds at various retail stores. The complaint also alleges he spent over $8,300 at Best Buy, $5,100 on limo and private car services, more than $3,300 at Guitar Center, $1,900 at LifeTime Fitness, $250 at Epic Water Park in Grand Prairie, TX, and nearly $5,500 at several night clubs. This includes a $1,200 party funded by campaign money on just one night at the Gold Rush Cabaret strip club in Miami, Florida.

"Royce White appears to have brazenly violated the federal laws that foster transparency and accountability in our elections, by first using his 2022 campaign’s account to pay for personal expenses—including clothing, fitness, and entertainment charges, along with siphoning off a six-figure sum through checks and wire transfers—and then wholly failing to report his 2024 Senate campaign’s disbursements," Saurav Ghosh — the director of federal reform at CLC — told the Beast.

"It is imperative that the FEC investigate these apparent violations of the campaign finance laws that safeguard our elections from financial malfeasance," he added.

While the complaint is centered on his failed House bid, the group said White's 2024 U.S. Senate campaign "has reported virtually no disbursements, despite ample indication that the campaign has incurred and paid expenses, in violation of federal reporting requirements." Repercussions could include fines paid to the FEC, or even potentially prison time.

White, who is a former NBA player, has no prior experience as an elected official. Nonetheless, the Minnesota Republican Party officially endorsed him in May in the competitive U.S. Senate primary. Columnist Michelle Goldberg said White's past extreme statements and ties to far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones could prove costly if he's the GOP nominee.

"White will probably be a gift to Democrats this cycle, particularly at a time when Republicans hope to exploit liberal divides over Israel," she wrote. "But while the mainstreaming of figures like White may be useful to Democrats in the short term, in the long term, it's a sign of a collapsed consensus about the nature of reality that bodes ill for liberal democracy."

The winner of the Gopher State's August 13 primary will face off against Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) in November. Current polls show Klobuchar in a comfortable lead over her likely GOP opponent, banker and U.S.Navy veteran Joe Fraser.

Click here to read the Beast's full report (subscription required).

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