Congresswoman Ordered To Pay For Gown Following House Investigation

Oh, the irony is just too rich — literally.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who made headlines for strutting into the 2021 Met Gala in that white Brother Vellies gown with “TAX THE RICH” splashed across the back in bold red letters, has officially been slapped by the House Ethics Committee for violating House rules. Yep, the self-proclaimed champion of the little guy broke the rules over an event where tickets cost a jaw-dropping $35,000 apiece — and now she’s been ordered to cough up nearly $3,000 to make it right.

According to the bipartisan committee’s unanimous ruling, AOC accepted “impermissible gifts” for her Met Gala appearance — including that custom dress, plus rented jewelry and luxury shoes — without paying fair market value.

Those goodies? Worth about $3,700. What did she actually pay? Under $1,000. And here’s the kicker: those late payments only came months after the event, and only after at least one stiffed vendor threatened legal action against her campaign.

The Ethics Committee has now ordered Ocasio-Cortez to pay Brother Vellies an additional $2,700 to settle the balance and donate $250 to the Costume Institute to cover her then-boyfriend Riley Roberts’ dinner at the gala. No formal sanction will be imposed — just as long as she pays up.

Of course, AOC’s team was quick to play defense. Her chief of staff, Mike Casca, put out a statement saying she “appreciates the Committee finding that she made efforts to ensure her compliance” and that she’ll settle the remaining amounts. Translation: she’s not fighting this, but she’s also not admitting much.

But watchdog groups aren’t letting her off so easily. Paul Kamenar, an attorney for the National Legal and Policy Center — one of the groups that filed the original ethics complaint — said the ruling proves AOC “thinks she can ignore ethics rules and place blame on her staff.”

And frankly, that’s exactly what the report suggests. The committee noted she didn’t “intentionally” underpay but blamed much of the mess on her staff’s handling of the payments.

And let’s not forget: this investigation didn’t just materialize out of nowhere. The Office of Congressional Ethics flagged AOC last March, pointing out that she likely wouldn’t have paid anything at all had watchdogs not launched an inquiry. One of those stiffed vendors? Her hairstylist — who threatened to file a complaint with the New York Department of Labor.

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