Report: Texas Democrat Candidate Michelle Vallejo Leaves Hundreds of Thousand of Dollars Off of Financial Disclosure Report

Texas Democrat House candidate Michelle Vallejo left hundreds of thousands of dollars off of her initial Financial Disclosure Report, which lawmakers and candidates are required to file under federal law, Roll Call reported.

According to Roll Call, Vallejo — running against Republican Monica De La Cruz in Texas’s Fifteenth Congressional District — left off more than $200,000 in assets from her initial Financial Disclosure Report in February, which she was required to affirm as “true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.”

Following questions raised by Roll Call about two contributions of $50,000 each, which she loaned her campaign earlier in 2022, Vallejo amended her report on July 28.

Under federal law — the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (EIGA) — members, officers, certain employees, and candidates are required to file Financial Disclosure Statements with the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Roll Call detailed:

That amended report, filed on July 28, lists five assets that were not included in the original filing. Assets left off are a joint PNC money market account with a value between $100,000 and $250,000, and a jointly held 49 percent ownership interest in Pugla Los Portales, valued between $100,000 and $250,000. She also left off accounts with Capital One and Lone Star National Bank, each valued between $1,000 and $15,000. Additionally, Vallejo didn’t include a jointly held 50 percent interest in Hustle and Socialize LLC, which is valued between $1,000 and $15,000.

That’s a total of between $218,000 and $595,000 in assets. Her first filing only reported between $15,000 and $50,000 in assets.

…

The Ethics in Government Act authorizes the attorney general to seek a civil penalty up to $50,000 against someone who “knowingly and willfully falsifies or fails to file or to report any required information,” according to the House Ethics Committee. Under federal criminal law, anyone who knowingly and willfully falsifies or conceals any material fact in a statement to the government can be fined up to $50,000 and/or imprisoned up to five years.

A spokesperson for Vallejo’s campaign, Kirby Chandler, told the publication, “We are submitting an amended PFS with additional information that was inadvertently left off the original filing.”

In response to the news, Kedric Payne, a government ethics expert and vice president of the Campaign Legal Center, said that candidates like Vallejo are obligated to report their assets so the general public can be aware of them.

“Sometimes candidates don’t understand the form, but the form is quite clear what are assets. The candidate is obligated to tell voters all of their financial interests,” Payne said.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.