The irony surrounding the Met Ball appearance of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just won't quit.
It turns out that Ocasio-Cortez attended the $35,000 per ticket gala with billionaire Seagram’s heir Benjamin Bronfman, who is dating the "Tax the Rich" dress designer, Aurora James.
As the masked working class catered to the unmasked elite at the event, the congresswoman was partying it up with Bronfman - who lives in a $7 million mansion on the Upper West Side and whose family is worth an estimated $2.5 billion. Socialist congresswoman @AOC gets a warm & exciting reaction from fans as she exits the Met Gala while a masked worker carries her long dress so it is not dirtied on the New York street. She departs with her entourage. pic.twitter.com/Bgoqj0qgVa
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) September 15, 2021
James, Bronfman, Ocasio-Cortez, and her boyfriend Riley Roberts were all smiles as they left the event after hobnobbing with the stars while being performatively revolutionary. To AOC's right is her dress designer Aurora James. To Aurora James' right is her bf Benjamin Bronfman, who is worth $100 million 😁 pic.twitter.com/itC58UHKRH
— Ramanan (@Ramanan_V) September 15, 2021
This week, both the National Legal and Policy Center and the American Accountability Foundation filed formal ethics complaints for the congresswoman's acceptance of the tickets and the lavish gifts that come along with it.
AAF filed a complaint on Tuesday saying that Ocasio-Cortez violated House Ethics rules by accepting “an impermissible gift” of tickets to the event.
The NLPC took things even further in their complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics. They argued that Ocasio-Cortez’s acceptance of free tickets for herself and her boyfriend violated gift rules. They also stated that she received a prohibited gift from a paid attendee at the gala by sitting at their sponsored table — which are valued at up to $300,000.“Representative Ocasio-Cortez may have violated the House Gift Rule by accepting free admission for herself and boyfriend to the Met Gala event and receiving related gifts before, during, or after the event, including the use of custom-designed dress, limousine service, the use of the Carlyle Hotel, professional hair and makeup services, and any other related services or goods,” stated the NLPC’s complaint, which was filed by the group’s counsel, Paul Kamenar, and obtained by the Daily Caller.
“In short, it is the table sponsor who is gifting or underwriting a coveted seat to AOC at the Gala,” the complaint states. “And if the sponsor of the table where AOC sat was one paid for by one of the corporations attending the event, such as Instagram or Facebook, AOC has received a prohibited gift from the corporation that also lobbies Congress.”
The watchdog organization also noted that Ocasio-Cortez also accepted a ticket for her boyfriend, Riley Roberts. According to House Gift Rules, lawmakers are only allowed to provide a second ticket to a charity fundraiser to a spouse or dependent child.
“Thus, because her boyfriend is not her ‘spouse or dependent,’ her acceptance of an ‘invite plus one’ to the Met Gala would violate the Gift Rule unless AOC or her boyfriend paid for his $35,000 ticket, an unlikely scenario,” the NLPC’s complaint states.
