Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) violated House rules against accepting gifts during her appearance at the Met Gala in 2021, where she famously rubbed shoulders with celebrities in a designer dress with "Tax the Rich" written on it.

An investigation by the House Ethics Committee found that AOC "impermissibly" received free admission for her then-boyfriend by calling him her "spouse" at the $35,000 event.

AOC caught

The lawmaker and her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts, received an invitation from fashion icon Anna Wintour, who tasked a designer to make a special dress from scratch, a request the designer called "insane."

House rules generally bar members from taking gifts, with some exceptions for charities and other "widely-attended" events for members and their families.

AOC was informed about the rules at the time but still accepted a free ticket for then-boyfriend Riley Roberts, who proposed to her a year later.

"Under House Rules and guidance as applied at the time of the event, a Member was only permitted to accept an unsolicited offer of free attendance to a charity fundraising event—such as the Met Gala—for themselves and either a spouse or dependent child," the House Ethics Committee found.

Playing it both ways

AOC's lawyer later argued with the House Ethics Committee over its definition of a spouse, which the committee defined as a person to whom one is legally married.

The committee informed AOC's lawyer after the Met Gala that the conventional understanding of the term applied, and her team did not seek any clarification at the time.

"While the Committee has since updated its guidance and now permits the acceptance of an offer for free attendance for any guest—as long as the attendance otherwise complies with the Gift  Rule—the Committee may not retroactively apply that guidance to prior conduct," the committee's 26-page report says.

Despite treating her then-boyfriend like her legal spouse for the purposes of the Met Gala, AOC "was not disclosing Mr. Roberts’ financial interests as is required of Members who are legally married."

She also “listed Mr. Roberts as her ‘spouse’ on paperwork filed with the House relating to privately sponsored travel, although the two were not legally married at the time of the gifted travel,” the report added.

Pay up!

AOC also did not pay fair market value for her designer gown and other items, and her staff was slow to pay back vendors until repeated attempts at collection and threats of legal action.

While AOC "proactively took steps to comply with the Gift Rule," the committee still found her responsible for accepting gifts improperly and instructed her to donate the $250 value of her boyfriend's meal - and to pay back over $2,700 for her rented attire.

“The Congresswoman appreciates the Committee finding that she made efforts to ensure her compliance with House Rules and sought to act consistently with her ethical requirements as a Member of the House,” said Mike Casca, AOC’s chief of staff, following the report’s release.