Daily Beast: “Rep. George Santos (R-NY) announced Monday that he would, counter to previously reported promises, run for another term in Congress. But it’s his latest campaign finance report—filed just a few days earlier—that’s truly mystifying watchdogs, as Santos made yet another seemingly inexplicable change to a central question about his finances: How, and now when, did he loan his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars?”

“The latest filing changed four things about the more than $700,000 in questionable loans that Santos made to his 2022 campaign: the dates he made them, the dates they came due, the amounts of the individual loans, and the total amount.”

“Former President Donald Trump has a minor addition to his mounting pile of legal challenges after he failed to meet the deadline to disclose his personal financial holdings,” the New York Times reports.

“But the threatened initial penalty — a meager $200 — is the latest sign of how weak federal enforcement of campaign laws has become.”

Important Context: “The Thiel Foundation, the nonprofit charity of billionaire and right-wing megadonor Peter Thiel, gave millions of dollars in 2021 to a secretive donor-advised fund that has funneled money into groups that spread Covid denial as well as hate groups, federal tax records reveal.”

Federal prosecutors are demanding that lawmakers disgorge political donations from indicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and his employees, Semafor reports.

Lynda Bennett (R), who ran for Congress last year in North Carolina, pleaded guilty to a federal campaign finance violation related to a loan from a family member that prosecutors said was falsely portrayed in campaign reports as originating from her own personal funds, the AP reports.

Daily Beast: “When the Federal Elections Commission rejected a recent Freedom of Information Act request related to Donald Trump’s ‘recount’ expenses after the 2020 election, the campaign watchdog had a conspicuous reason for turning down the petition: Trump’s political spending after he left the White House is currently the subject of an FEC enforcement matter.”

The New York Times published lengthy profile of billionaire heiress Elizabeth Koch who described herself as “apolitical,” a claim that the reporter apparently didn’t challenge.

However, Koch has donated tens of thousands to Republican politicians and the Koch Industries PAC.

“Donations from corporate and trade association PACs declined in the 2022 cycle by 10 percent to Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election for President Joe Biden,” Roll Call reports.

“Embattled cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried directed tens of millions of dollars of illegal campaign contributions to elected officials, prosecutors alleged in a new superseding indictment unsealed Thursday in a Manhattan federal court,” NBC News reports.

“Bankman-Fried became one of the biggest Democratic donors in the country during last year’s midterm elections, with a net worth estimated at one point to be greater than $20 billion and dreams of spending up to $1 billion on the 2024 presidential contest.”

“But Bankman-Fried’s political giving was not all it seemed… The indictment accuses Bankman-Fried of directing at least 300 illegal campaign donations, totaling up to $100 million, to both Democrats and Republicans through two other unnamed FTX executives that acted as ‘straw donors‘ to hide the true source of the funds.”

“It wasn’t enough that Herschel Walker’s ill-fated Senate campaign in Georgia had a rough run,” the Daily Beast reports.

“Now the feds want to know more about financial moves the campaign made after Walker lost—including tens of thousands of dollars stashed in a ‘recount’ fund long after Walker had conceded defeat.”

One campaign finance expert said it looked like a “dumping ground for excess contributions.”

“One of George Santos’ first acts as a candidate for Congress in 2019, according to his campaign finance filings, was making a series of four-figure donations from his campaign to a pair of local Republican groups and President Donald Trump’s reelection committee,” Politico reports.

“But according to those groups’ own filings, the contributions were never received — and may not have been donated.”

“The Federal Election Commission is warning Representative George Santos to substantiate who is in charge of his campaign’s finances — or risk a ban on raising or spending any money,” Bloomberg reports.

“The FEC sent a letter to Santos asking him to file paperwork to list the treasurer of his campaign, after his previous one resigned in January. The letter adds to confusion over who’s in charge of the embattled New York Republican’s campaign accounts.”

Meanwhile, CBS News reports police interviewed Santos in a 2017 international case of credit card and identity theft.

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) “has spent his campaign money in plenty of conspicuous ways, from lavish hotel stays in Las Vegas and Palm Beach, Fla., to an unusual slew of payments for exactly $199.99 — two cents below the threshold where receipts would be required,” the New York Times reports.

“But deep within Mr. Santos’s campaign filings, The New York Times found another eye-catching number: $365,399.08 in unexplained spending, with no record of where it went or for what purpose.”

“The mysterious expenditures, which list no recipient and offer no receipts, account for nearly 12 percent of the Santos campaign’s total reported expenses — many times exceeding what is typical for congressional candidates.”

Since he left office, Donald Trump’s various political committees have spent $905,570 at his own properties, the HuffPost reports.