Republican Says ‘Cyber-Criminal’ Stole Nearly $700,000 From Senate Campaign

The Republican Campaign Staff Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran stated, “a “cyber-criminal” An election filing revealed that he had taken $690,000. 

Moran’s campaign treasurer, Timothy Gottschalk, wrote in a Federal Election Commission filing This money was taken by a 501(c)(3) on December 8, 2022. “third party cyber criminal,” A claim is being investigated by FBI.

“On November 14, 2022, our office was contacted by Astra Bank to notify us of potentially fraudulent activity concerning recent wire transfers to SRCP Media, Inc. After communications with staff, it was determined that two wires were sent for payment of fraudulent invoices. One wire was sent on October 25, 2022, for $345,000.00, and a second wire on November 9, 2022, for $345,000.00. For a total of $690,000.00,” Gottschalk said in the filing: reported Raw Story

The Kansas City Star noted that Moran’s campaign purchased media time for commercials through SRCP during the election, which Moran won with 60% of the vote to Democrat challenger Mark Holland’s 37%. 

According to Moran’s office, they reported the incident to the Republic County Sheriff’s Office on November 16, before the investigation was turned over to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the FBI.

“Cybercriminals targeted the accounting firm employed by Moran For Kansas and money was wired to fraudulent bank accounts,” Tom Brandt was a spokesperson for Moran. “As soon as a discrepancy was realized, it was reported to law enforcement.”

Gottschalk stated that $168,184.03 was recovered on November 23. “We are currently pursuing all avenues available to recover the money and there is an ongoing investigation with the FBI,” Brandt added. 

The FBI told Axios, it was “aware of the incident” However, we were unable to confirm any additional details. 

Moran, a senator since 2010, is the ranking member on Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies of the Appropriations committee. Moran is also the highest ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee. 

Moran was among the 18 Republicans who served in the Senate who voted to advance the Democrat’s massive $1.7 trillion omnibus budget in December.