The Federal Election Commission threatened outgoing Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) with potential legal enforcement action for failing to report his campaign’s finances during the weeks before and after his May 17 primary defeat.
Cawthorn was due to file a report to the FEC on July 15 detailing what his campaign raised and spent between late April and the end of June, but the Cawthorn campaign has kept the FEC in the dark as of Wednesday afternoon.
“The failure to timely file a complete report may result in civil money penalties, an audit or legal enforcement action,” the FEC warned Cawthorn in a letter on Monday.
The FEC noted that Cawthorn is unlikely to escape fines in the matter, as the civil penalty calculation does not include a grace period and begins the day following the due date of the report.
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Cawthorn filed a statement of organization with the FEC on July 15, identifying himself as the treasurer and custodian of records for his campaign, a move that could open him up to personal civil liability if the FEC penalizes his campaign for failing to report its finances on time.
Cawthorn did not return a request for comment.
Thomas Datwyler, who served as the treasurer and custodian of records of the Cawthorn campaign before the firebrand freshman lawmaker lost his primary election on May 17, did not return a request for comment.
The FEC’s threat to Cawthorn comes after the Daily Beast reported in July that the Cawthorn campaign burned through all its restricted general election funds in a mad dash spending spree in the lead-up to his primary defeat and now has no money left over to return to his donors.
A source with the Cawthorn campaign told the Daily Beast that the campaign spent $1,500 on trips to Chick-Fil-A, almost $3,000 at a restaurant called Papa’s Beer, $21,000 on hotels in Florida, multiple trips to a high-end cigar shop, and egregious consulting fees to individuals such as Cawthorn’s personal friend and campaign manager Blake Harp.
Harp did not return requests for comment.
The Cawthorn campaign had only $138,000 cash on hand and debts totaling $325,000 as of April 27 after having raised over $3.5 million since the beginning of 2021, according to its most recently filed FEC report.
Cawthorn’s campaign is required by law to reimburse a combined $220,000 to large-dollar donors who had contributed to his general election fund before his May 17 primary loss. It’s unclear where Cawthorn’s campaign will find the money to reimburse his donors.
“There was just no money,” the Cawthorn campaign source told the Daily Beast. “It was dollar-in, dollar-out. So if he loses, it’s a really bad thing, and the only way to cover it is getting money straight from the candidate or treasurer.”
“Nobody ever did the math, which baffled me because the spending was so outrageous,” the source said.
Cawthorn suffered a string of embarrassing stories in the lead-up to his primary loss to state Sen. Chuck Edwards.
Cawthorn was alleged to have engaged in an inappropriate relationship with one of his staffers, he was caught trying to bring a handgun past security at a North Carolina airport, and a video surfaced of the congressman naked in bed getting physical and making noises with another man.
Cawthorn also faces a House Ethics investigation over allegations that he engaged in an insider trading scheme related to the “Let’s Go Brandon” meme cryptocurrency.
Multiple government watchdog groups previously told the Washington Examiner that Cawthorn may have implicated himself in an insider trading scheme when he wrote: “LGB legends … Tomorrow we go to the moon!” in response to a Dec. 29 Instagram picture of himself posing with the meme coin’s ringleader, James Koutoulas.
The next day, LGBCoin’s value spiked by 75% after NASCAR driver Brandon Brown announced that the coin would be the primary sponsor of his 2022 season. Koutoulas was featured in Brown’s press release.
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Cawthorn disclosed in late May that he sold upward of $250,000 of the meme cryptocurrency shortly after its value spiked in late December. Less than a month later, LGBCoin had lost 100% of its value.
