AOC’s anti-oligarch message undercut by own ethics issues, private flights

While Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez travels the country with Sen. Bernie Sanders railing against the power and influence of so-called “oligarchs” in the United States, allegations of ethics misconduct and swanky jet travel risk undermining her message. 

Ocasio-Cortez, a rising star on the progressive wing of the Democratic Party that has not hesitated to call out her own party menbers, was slapped last month with an ethics complaint alleging she may have used a taxpayer-funded office budget for dance training she claims were campaign expenses.

Ocasio-Cortez has also come under scrutiny for  expensive private flights during the oligarchy tour and was subject of a congressional ethics investigation over possible “impermissible gifts” associated with her attendance at the Met Gala in 2021.

“We are witnessing an oligarchy in America,” Ocasio-Cortez said before a crowd of 10,000 in an Arizona State University arena on March 20. “When those with the most economic, political and technological power destroy the public good in order to enrich themselves at the price of millions of Americans.” 

New ethics complaint

But, Ocasio-Cortez is accused of using taxpayer funds for apparent campaign-related expenses, according to an ethics compliant submitted by Americans for Public Trust, a nonprofit independent watchdog, to the Office of Congressional Ethics last month. 

The complaint cites records of her taxpayer-funded Members’ Representational Allowance, provided to all members of the House of Representatives to help fund office operations and official duties related to the representation of their constituents, showing that Ocasio-Cortez may have used those funds for dance training. 

According to the record, Ocasio-Cortez made two payments, one to “Juan D Gonzalez” for $3,700 and one to “Bombazo Dance Co Inc.” for $850. Both expenditures included the description “training.”

“Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s troubling payments from her taxpayer funded account for activities such as dance classes should be investigated. In the era of reining in government spending, the American people deserve to know lawmakers are being good stewards of their tax dollars,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, previously said. 

Ocasio-Cortez took to X to hit back against the accusations. “100% wrong. None of this is taxpayer money, this is an FEC filing. Be loud and wrong about something else. Try again next time,” she said. 

The filing cited in the report, however, is not an FEC filing, but records of her taxpayer-funded Members’ Representational Allowance.

A search of Federal Election Commission records for Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign does not list any payments to Bombazo Dance or Juan Gonzalez, despite the recorded expenditures in the office fund, indicating that her office, not her campaign, paid for these services. 

Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to an email request from Just the News seeking clarification about the discrepancy. 

Expensive private flights

While Ocasio-Cortez touted her and Sander’s bona fides fighting for the working class, both lawmakers charted a private jet to travel between campaign stops on the tour. 

“We as a community must choose and vote for Democrats and elected officials who know how to stand for the working class,” Ocasio-Cortez said at one rally, according to the New York Post. 

However, Ocasio-Cortez was photographed disembarking from a Bombardier Challenger 604, a luxury aircraft designed for private use with a between $5 million and $7 million price tag. 

The Fight Oligarchy tour solicits donations, in part for travel expenses, for which it describes needing a “modest amount of resources.” However, the cost to charter such a private aircraft can range from from $6,000 to $10,000 per hour. 

Ocasio-Cortez was previously photographed traveling in first class aboard a JetBlue flight from New York’s JFK Airport to Las Vegas for one of the earlier rallies. The tickets run in excess of $1,000, per the New York Post. 

Sanders has also come under scrutiny for his extensive use of private flight charters to travel while championing a liberal populist message against the elites.

His campaign spent more than $221,000 on private jet travel in the first quarter of 2025 alone, according to FEC filings. Sanders also charted a private aircraft to campaign in Iowa during the first Trump impeachment in 2020. 

The Met Gala dress and other gifts

Ocasio-Cortez also previously faced an Office of Congressional Ethics probe over whether she accepted impermissible gifts when she attended the Met Gala in New York City. The board in December 2022 decided to extend its review into the allegation after they received a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics.

Its 18-page preliminary report shows the board found Ocasio-Cortez may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law when she was given "a couture dress, handbag, shoes, and jewelry” for her attendance at the September 2021 Met Gala. “"She also received hair, makeup, transportation and ready-room services,” the report added. 

The dress she wore was made famous by the message emblazoned with “Tax the Rich” in bright red on its back. 

The report noted that Ocasio-Cortez "appears to have now paid for the rental value of the attire she wore to the Met Gala and for the goods and services she and her partner received in connection with this September 2021 event.” But, it said, the payment was not made until after the ethics office contacted her for its review.

Ocasio-Cortez has said, "There was a ball that was dropped" and has described the matter as "deeply regrettable," when asked about the delays in payments for goods and services related to the gala. There appears to have been no update on the ethics probe since the investigation was escalated to the House Ethics Committee.