Foreign Money in NYC Mayor Race Sparks Legal Trouble

In the final stretch of the New York City mayoral race, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing serious allegations. A group called the Coolidge Reagan Foundation has sent criminal referrals to the Department of Justice and Manhattan District Attorney. They claim Mamdani's campaign took illegal donations from foreign donors. The issue started when finance reports showed Mamdani's campaign received nearly $13, 000 from donors outside the U. S. Only U. S. citizens or permanent residents can legally donate to American political campaigns. The watchdog group argues that Mamdani's campaign knew about these illegal donations for months but did little to stop them. Mamdani's campaign, however, says they have fixed the issue. They claim 31 of the 170 donors proved their citizenship or legal status. The rest, 139 donors, had their donations refunded. The campaign also says they have a strong compliance process to check donors' legal status. The Coolidge Reagan Foundation disagrees. They say refunding the money doesn't fix the problem. They want a criminal investigation into potential violations of federal and state election laws. The group's chairman argues that foreign money in elections is a threat to democracy. As of mid-October, filings showed that 91 of the foreign donations had been refunded. This totals around $5, 723. 50. The Mamdani campaign has said they will continue to refund any donations that don't comply with the law. The campaign also points out that U. S. citizens living abroad can legally donate. They argue that not all foreign addresses mean illegal donations. However, the watchdog group believes the circumstances suggest many of these donations are illegal.