Peach Tree Times

A request has been made for an investigation into a Senate candidate for allegedly not filing the information required on his personal financial disclosure form.

Georgia Republican Party Chairman Stewart Bragg sent the letter to U.S. Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Christopher Coons (D-DE) with the Select Committee on Ethics, asking for an investigation into Senate candidate Jon Ossoff. 

“Complainant respectfully requests that the Senate Select Committee on Ethics investigate Jon Ossoff, a candidate for the United States Senate for Georgia, for knowingly failing to file all information required to report on the Public Financial Disclosure Report, in violation of Title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978…” Bragg writes.

The Ethics Act requires that candidates for Senate file financial disclosure reports every year that they are a candidate and that failing to file the report or any information on it is a violation of the act.

“Further, the Act authorizes the Attorney General of the United States to seek a penalty of up to $50,000 for knowingly and willfully failing to file information required to be reported on a Financial Disclosure Report,” Bragg wrote. “Importantly, the Act makes clear that your committee shall refer to the Attorney General ‘the name of any individual which [your] committee has reason to believe has willfully failed to file or report any information that such individual is required to report.”

Bragg writes that Ossoff filed the report for 2019 on May 15, but then filed an amendment in July. In the report, he disclosed that he had earned compensation from PCCW Media Limited and Al Jazeera in the amount of more than $5,000, as well as other companies.

Bragg claims that PCCW has ties to the Chinese Communist Party and that Al Jazeera has ties to terrorist organizations.

Bragg contends that Ossoff was aware of the compensation and waited until after the June 9 primary to disclose the information, meaning that Georgia voters were not given an accurate assessment of his financial situation before voting.

“Georgia voters were left in the dark about the financial interests relevant to Ossoff and they deserved to know whether Ossoff had conflicts of interests or financial entanglements relevant to his candidacy,” Bragg wrote. “Ossoff had an advantage over other primary candidates who filed complete disclosures.”

Bragg wants the Senate committee to investigate Ossoff for his alleged willful failure to file his disclosure fully.