Report: NYC Family Donated $300K to Kathy Hochul Campaign After State Paid Their Business $637M for COVID Tests

The family of entrepreneur Charlie Tebele reportedly gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D-NY) campaign, according to an article from the Times Union.

The article, published on Tuesday, continued:

Records also show that since December, Tebele’s company was paid $637 million in taxpayer funds to provide the state Department of Health — an agency controlled by Hochul — with at-home COVID-19 test kits. The huge expenditure was made without the agency conducting competitive bidding.

Tebele is the longtime owner of Digital Gadgets LLC, a New Jersey-based wholesaler of hoverboards and other electronic devices that sells its wares to companies like the home shopping network QVC. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, the company pivoted to supplying medical equipment, and began landing major government contracts in New York.

Digital Gadgets has brought in huge government payments, and family members apparently continued donating to certain politicians, the report said.

The news came after a Soviet-born billionaire linked to sanctioned Russian oligarchs reportedly donated the maximum amount to Hochul’s campaign earlier this year.

In March, it was reported Len Blavatnik gave $69,700 to Hochul’s campaign, according to records filed with the State Board of Elections.

Because of his American citizenship, Blavatnik’s donations were deemed legal.

Per the Times Union, the Department of Health began paying millions of dollars to the Tebele company in late December. In the following months, the office reportedly conducted over 200 payments to the family business.

However, there was apparently no record of a contract agreement being signed involving the company and the agency.

Meanwhile, “A Hochul senior advisor, Bryan Lesswing, said the administration had spent the $637 million to increase at-home testing capacity in order to protect vulnerable New Yorkers from the highly transmissible omicron strain,” the Times Union article read.

Digital Gadgets delivered the tests required, according to Lesswing.

In June, Rep. Lee Zeldin won New York’s Republican gubernatorial primary, as projected by Decision Desk HQ.

Now, Zeldin will go on to face Hochul, Breitbart News reported.

“Zeldin will have a lot of fundraising ground to make up going into November, as Hochul is exiting the primaries with a nearly $11 million campaign cash difference,” the outlet said.