Supreme Court Will Consider Ending Limits On Party Campaign Spending
'Should not restrict a party committee's support'
Maxine Waters caught in shady campaign finance scandal — slapped with hefty penalty
California Democrat U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters is once again caught in a legal bind, this time for allegedly violating several campaign finance rules.
The Federal Election Commission accused Waters' 2020 campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, of "failing to accurately report both receipts and disbursements," "knowingly accepting excessive contributions," and "making prohibited cash disbursements."
'The Committee acknowledges errors were made which were not willful or purposeful.'
A conciliation agreement sent by the FEC to the committee's treasurer on Friday outlined the alleged violations.
"During the 2020 calendar year, the Committee understated $262,391 in receipts and $256,154 in disbursements. The Committee untimely amended its reports to correct these errors," the signed agreement read.
RELATED: House Democrats use campaign funds to pay family members
The committee was further accused of accepting "excessive contributions from seven individuals totaling $19,000 that were not refunded, reattributed, or redesignated within the permissible timeframe." The agreement noted that the Waters campaign "did untimely refund or disgorge the excessive contributions."
"During the 2020 calendar year, the Committee made four prohibited cash disbursements that were each in excess of $100, totaling $7,000," the agreement added.
Waters' campaign agreed to cease and desist from committing such violations and pay a $68,000 civil penalty. As part of the agreement, the campaign treasurer will also attend a "Commission-sponsored training program for political committees."
In January 2024, Waters' campaign attorney, Leilani Beaver, responded to FEC's findings.
Beaver wrote, "The Committee acknowledges errors were made which were not willful or purposeful."
She attributed the "errors" to "limited staff availability and resources during the pandemic."
When reached for comment by Open Secrets, Beaver referred questions to the Waters campaign and congressional office, neither of which responded. Waters' campaign and office also did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
RELATED: Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign paid her daughter $240K
This is not the first time Waters' campaign has faced allegations of misused donations.
Waters was previously accused of using campaign finances to employ her daughter's company. Over a two-decade period, Waters' campaign gave the company $1.2 million in "slate mailer management fees."
The House Ethics Committee also accused Waters in 2010 of violating conflicts-of-interest rules by allegedly providing government assistance to a bank with ties to her husband. The committee ultimately dismissed the charges.
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Byron Donalds pays ‘body man’ with a rap sheet using campaign cash
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) has used campaign funds to funnel large payments to his longtime associate and close friend Larry Wilcoxson — a man with a lengthy history of criminal convictions and allegations. Media reports have called Wilcoxson Donalds’ “right-hand man,” while the congressman, who announced his candidacy for governor of Florida in February, has referred to him as his personal “body man.”
Wilcoxson doesn’t appear on Donalds’ official staff roster, yet he and his company, Wilcoxson Consulting, received $133,450 from Donalds’ campaign across more than 160 disbursements between July 7, 2020, and March 24 of this year. The latest Federal Election Commission reporting shows that more than $86,000 of that total came after May 2024, signaling a possible expansion of Wilcoxson’s role with Donalds.
Propping up a 'right-hand man' with Wilcoxson’s rap sheet speaks volumes about the judgment of the man signing the checks.
The payments break down as follows:
- Payroll: $75,250 (56.4%)
- Payroll taxes: $18,750 (14%)
- Consulting services: $22,500 (16.8%)
- Travel reimbursements: $8,450 (6.3%)
- Office supplies: $3,200 (2.4%)
- Event expenses: $2,800 (2.1%)
- Miscellaneous reimbursements: $1,500 (1.1%)
- Other (unspecified): $1,000 (0.7%)
Wilcoxson’s criminal history, both alleged and confirmed, appears extensively in court records and media coverage.
One of the most serious accusations involves a 2006 child molestation case. According to an April 2023 report by the Florida Trident, police accused Wilcoxson of molesting a 13-year-old girl while he worked as a substitute teacher at an Indianapolis middle school. Though prosecutors later dismissed the charge, the Trident noted that “a look at the public record shows there are many questions still unanswered about the case.”
The Indianapolis Star reported that school officials fired Wilcoxson after he allegedly exposed himself to a female custodian. Federal court records show multiple accusers. When asked whether they were all lying, Wilcoxson dodged the question.
He didn’t hesitate to play the race card, though.
“In my America, in your America, only a black man will be guilty and will always be guilty,” he said when pressed about multiple accusations. Wilcoxson refused to answer questions about the child molestation case but admitted to videotaping his sexual encounters, called himself a “pimp,” and confessed to threatening a police officer’s family.
A 2008 federal lawsuit filed in Indianapolis, settled out of court in 2009, alleged that Wilcoxson molested a student — identified as “T.T.” — while working as a substitute teacher at Henry W. Longfellow Middle School. The girl’s mother, Valerie Davis, reported the alleged abuse. According to the lawsuit, the school district and Indianapolis police conducted a “superficial and flawed” investigation.
The complaint also claimed authorities treated the girl “hostilely,” even threatening her with arrest for filing a report.
A lifetime of trouble
Court records unearthed by the Florida Trident show that Wilcoxson’s rap sheet goes back to his teenage years. In Collier County, Florida, he faced charges including armed robbery at 14, aggravated battery, misdemeanor battery, and grand theft auto. While a student at Florida State University studying — ironically — criminology, he racked up more charges between 1997 and 2000. He took plea deals for forgery and credit card fraud, beat a petty theft charge at trial, and got a criminal mischief charge dropped.
In 2015, a court sentenced Wilcoxson to six months in jail for grand theft auto, but the conviction was later vacated. Combined with a judge’s decision to withhold adjudication on earlier charges, Wilcoxson’s record, on paper at least, shows no standing convictions — a technical clean slate that masks a long and troubling history.
In March 2022, Melissa Kamin — Wilcoxson’s former fiancée — filed for a protective order, alleging he physically assaulted her in their Marco Island home by lifting her onto a kitchen counter and restraining her. She also claimed Wilcoxson later tracked her to Lauderhill, broke into her car, and tossed her belongings.
RELATED: DeSantis reacts to Byron Donalds officially entering governor's race
Wilcoxson denied the allegations, insisting he never acted violently toward Kamin. Court records show Kamin obtained a temporary restraining order but later withdrew her petition in May 2022.
Wilcoxson’s record of physical intimidation doesn’t stop there. According to a September 2022 report from Gulf Coast News, he and Donalds confronted Collier County School Board candidate Kelly Lichter in a supermarket, with Donalds yelling about a lawsuit involving his wife. In a separate incident, Wilcoxson reportedly lunged at Lichter’s husband, Nick, during a Collier County Republican Executive Committee meeting — forcing a deputy and others to restrain him.
His go-to move
The Trident report casts Wilcoxson as an “intimidator” for Donalds, with critics like former Collier County Republican Committeeman Rob Tolp raising alarms about his temperament and pattern of threatening behavior.
“He resorts to threats of violence almost instantaneously,” Tolp told the outlet. “It’s almost like it’s his first go-to move. That’s a bad sign.”
Using campaign funds to pay unofficial advisers occupies a legal gray zone. It’s not outright illegal if the individual performs legitimate campaign work. But propping up a “right-hand man” with Wilcoxson’s rap sheet speaks volumes about the judgment of the man signing the checks. Whether Florida voters will care — or call it out — remains to be seen.
Soros and McCain: The unholy alliance hidden in plain sight
Have we been missing a Soros-McCain family connection in front of our very eyes all this time?
Unlike his father, George, who operated behind the scenes and dismissed scrutiny as conspiracy theory, Alexander Soros flaunts his influence openly on social media. He’s proudly posted photos with Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Democratic leaders like Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) — to name just a few. He’s also showcased meetings with newer faces, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), whom he called a “rising star.” Let’s hope he’s right.
What started as a quiet alliance between George Soros and John McCain has now become a visible partnership between their heirs, Alex and Cindy.
To paraphrase “The Big Short”: Alex isn’t confessing — he’s bragging.
His photos with high-profile Democrats have grabbed headlines, but it’s his posts featuring Cindy McCain that reveal something even more telling: a decades-long relationship between the Soros and McCain families.
On May 6, 2024, Alex shared a photo with Cindy at the McCain Institute Sedona Forum. The topic of the forum was “Securing Our Insecure World,” which used the “climate crisis” as a backdrop, and had a roster of speakers that included Democrats and RINOs such as Mitt Romney, Janet Yellen, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), David Axelrod, and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In another tweet with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Alex indicated that stopping Trump was a topic of discussion, referring to Kelly as “inspiring as ever and attentive to the threat posed in November if Trump wins.”
Alex has also shared a photo of himself with Cindy McCain and his father at the Munich Security Conference. The two also appear in a photo discussing the World Food Programme. The earliest image of them together dates back to 2020, when Cindy served as chairwoman of the board of the Munich conference and Alex sat on the advisory council, according to the conference’s annual report.
The McCains have never hidden their disdain for Donald Trump or the modern Republican Party — views that earned them the “RINO” tag and de facto exile from today’s GOP.
RELATED: Alex Soros admits he’s more powerful than elected officials
Their ties to the Soros network don't mark a new alliance, but they do prompt questions about how the relationship began. The answer may lead directly back to John McCain himself.
To understand the dynamic between Cindy McCain and Alex Soros, you first need to understand the relationship between John McCain and George Soros.
In 2001, McCain launched the Reform Institute — a nonprofit think tank that operated as a convenient loophole for accepting unlimited, unregulated donations. Many of the Reform Institute’s funders also contributed to McCain’s presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2008 as well as to his Straight Talk America PAC.
Hypocritically, the Reform Institute has claimed it wants to “clean up” campaign finance. In 2008, the Reform Institute even sent out a fundraising appeal blasting George Soros as a Democratic mega-donor. Yet, it was taking Soros’ money as it criticized others for doing the same.
The Reform Institute accepted multiple contributions from George Soros — some as high as $100,000 — as well as from the Soros-backed Tides Foundation. The maverick also took money from Teneo, a firm co-founded by Bill Clinton’s longtime “bag man” Doug Band.
What started as a quiet alliance between George Soros and John McCain has now become a visible partnership between their heirs, Alex and Cindy. Their shared disdain for Trump and mutual investment in globalist initiatives reveal what many prefer to ignore: Real political power often hides in plain sight — until it doesn’t.
With his ascension to the helm of his father’s Open Society Foundations, Alex Soros inherits a political infrastructure from the Democratic Party — and from RINOs like John and Cindy McCain.
Editor’s note: This article, part of a series, has been adapted from Matt Palumbo’s new book, “The Heir: Inside the (Not So) Secret Network of George Soros.”
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