A thief scammed the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee out of nearly $29,000 last year, according to interviews with committee officials and previously unreported federal records.
In February 2025, an unknown party sent a fraudulent email to a committee staffer pretending to be Chairman Ken Martin, a DNC official familiar with the matter confirmed to NOTUS. Martin had begun his tenure days before. The staffer, who is no longer at the DNC, made a payment to the fraudster.
The DNC official said the committee caught the error within minutes and reported it to its financial institution — Wells Fargo, according to federal records — but could only recover $7,000 of the lost money.
The theft is one of numerous high-profile swindles from prominent political committees — liberal and conservative alike — and comes as the DNC is facing a cash crunch that’s led it to put its Washington, D.C., headquarters up for collateral to obtain a $15 million line of credit.
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The DNC acknowledged what it called a “misdisbursement of Committee funds” in an August 2025 letter to the Federal Election Commission, saying it “was the result of fraudulent activity by an external third party.” It told regulators it would take “further steps to avoid similar events in the future.”
The DNC also reported the matter to law enforcement, said the official, who stressed that the committee utilizes thorough training and security protocols to defend against fraud and other nefarious activity.
“The DNC takes seriously our duty to protect the funds provided to us by millions of patriotic Americans chipping in to fund our mission,” spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg told NOTUS in a statement. “This was a one-off mistake that was promptly caught and addressed, and no similar issues have occurred since.”
The stolen money represents a small fraction of what the DNC typically raises during an election cycle.
But this election cycle has proven particularly challenging for the committee, which is operating in the red as Democrats attempt to win control of the House and Senate during November’s midterm elections.
The DNC had about $16.3 million cash on hand versus about $18.5 million in debt through June 30, according to FEC records. The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, had more than $128.5 million cash on hand and no debt through June 30.
Some Democratic activists have openly criticized Martin’s leadership and even called for his resignation, although most elected Democrats have remained silent on Martin or have offered their support for him.
Dozens of federal political committees have suffered a financial loss this decade for a number of reasons — particularly cybertheft, mail fraud and embezzlement.
In 2020, the RNC lost $44,000 to fraudsters who went on a shopping spree at a coffee company and agricultural products supplier.
More recently, Sens. John Thune (R-South Dakota), Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) have experienced campaign thefts.
So, too, have the campaigns of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colorado) and Neal Dunn (R-Florida).
Republican candidate Mike Rogers, a former congressman who’s running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, lost $16,700 in campaign cash to a suspected cyberthief despite running on a platform that includes his experience “working with companies large and small to protect their data from criminals and bad-acting countries like China.”
Thieves, scammers or embezzlers have also recently hit political committees for the National Venture Capital Association, Seafarers International Union, American Fintech Council, accounting giant KPMG and law firm Arnold & Porter.
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