Kanye’s Zombie Campaign Attracts Teen Donors—and Feds’ Scrutiny
Former Birthday Party presidential contender Kanye West has not yet terminated his campaign, but he has disabled donations and removed merch from his website after receiving a notice from the Federal Election Commission and numerous complaints about extended shipping delays from some of his zoomer donors hopeful that their federal contribution would return a black-market payday.
The unusual violations in the West campaign’s FEC reports include multiple donations from minors, multiple possible contributions from foreign nationals and several fake names and addresses that trace to drop-shipping warehouses on both coasts. On top of that, experts say, West himself may face an investigation for unlawful fundraising practices that pulled in nearly $100,000 in small donations this year.
“In five-plus years of doing this I’ve never come across something like this,” said Jordan Libowitz, communications director for government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has filed 14 federal lawsuits targeting illegal campaign finance activity since 2016.