The Democratic National Committee reportedly lost roughly $29,000 to someone impersonating Chairman Ken Martin last year, and the full amount was not recovered.
Days after Mr. Martin became head of the committee in February 2025, an unknown party sent a fraudulent email to a committee staffer claiming to be Mr. Martin. The staffer then erroneously made a payment to the fraudster.
The staffer is reportedly no longer with the DNC, but it’s unclear whether that leave is related to the scam. The committee has “no reason to believe that the transaction involved any misappropriation or misconduct by Committee personnel,” according to its correspondence to the Federal Election Commission.
A DNC official told NOTUS that the error was flagged within minutes and was reported to its financial institution.
Only $7,000 of the lost money was reportedly recovered.
“The identified transaction was the result of fraudulent activity by an external third party,” it told the FEC. “Committee staff discovered the issue quickly and promptly notified its bank in order to recover the misdisbursed funds. The Committee maintains an internal controls policy consistent with the Federal Election Commission’s safe harbor policy, and the Committee is taking further steps to avoid similar events in the future.”
Law enforcement was also reportedly notified of the incident.
“The DNC takes seriously our duty to protect the funds provided to us by millions of patriotic Americans chipping in to fund our mission,” spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg told NOTUS in a statement. “This was a one-off mistake that was promptly caught and addressed, and no similar issues have occurred since.”
Democrats are not alone in their scam misfortunes.
The Republican National Committee had nearly $44,000 in unauthorized fraudulent charges made on a committee credit card by an outside actor at a coffee and tea e-commerce site and an agricultural supplier, though the funds were later refunded by American Express.
Lawmakers are also not immune to theft, as high-profile members of Congress have been scammed in the past year, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, and Sen. Cory Booker, New Jersey Democrat.
The recent email scam loss is a tiny amount compared with total DNC fundraising, though the committee faces deep financial strains.
Growing calls for Mr. Martin’s resignation follow a report detailing a staff altercation, the email scam and severe financial shortfalls.
By the end of June, the DNC had $16.3 million in cash but was also underwater, with $18.5 million in debt.
The RNC, on the other hand, reported $128.5 million in cash and no debt.
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