DNC admits it was scammed out of nearly $30K last year by a Ken Martin impersonator

The Democratic National Committee admitted recently that it was scammed last year out of nearly $30,000 by someone who was claiming to be Chairman Ken Martin and the full amount has not been recovered.

The incident occurred in February 2025, shortly after Martin became the new chairman. Someone claiming to be Martin messaged a committee staffer through a fraudulent email and the staffer then erroneously made a payment to the fraudster.

The staffer no longer works for the DNC, according to the Washington Times, but it was not clear if the staffer left over the scandal and the committee said it has "no reason to believe that the transaction involved any misappropriation or misconduct by Committee personnel.”

A committee official also said that the incident was flagged "within minutes" and reported to its own bank and then the Federal Elections Commission. Only $7,000 of the $29,000 has been 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." it added.

The DNC also told NOTUS that the incident was a one-time thing that was "promptly caught and addressed."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.