Troy Nehls faces House ethics probe for suspected campaign fund misuse

The Office of Congressional Ethics voted unanimously to continue an investigation into Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) after finding “probable cause” that the Texas Republican may have converted his campaign funds for personal use and failed to disclose required information in annual finance reports.

The OCE released the findings of its ethics investigation on Friday, detailing accusations that Nehls had failed to disclose information in his annual House financial statements in violation of House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law. The report comes after the House Ethics Committee agreed to open an investigation into whether campaign committee payments were made for campaign purposes.

“Rep. Nehls’s campaign committee, Nehls for Congress, reported campaign disbursements that may not be legitimate and verifiable campaign expenditures attributable to bona fide campaign or political purposes,” the report reads. “The Board recommends that the Committee further review the above allegation concerning Rep. Nehls because there is probable cause to believe that he converted campaign committee funds to personal use.”

The report cited Nehls’s campaign as listing its operating location as “Freedom Hall,” located in Richmond, Texas. However, the committee found that as of March 2023, the address is home to a bar or tavern operated by an entity called Z-Bar, LP. The investigation also found that sometime between March 2023 and October 2023, the location “was converted into an Islamic center and boarding school.”

Despite listing the address as his campaign headquarters, the committee found that no disbursements were made from the campaign to pay rent to either Z-Bar or Freedom Hall.

Instead, finance records show Nehls’s campaign made rent payments in 2020 and 2022 to an entity known as Liberty 1776. However, it’s unclear what was being rented by the campaign or “if the campaign committee received anything for these payments,” and Nehls did not provide information about the payments to the committee.

However, the report indicates that Nehls is the “primary beneficiary of any payments to Liberty 1776” and cites public records revealing the entity is a “single-member LLC owned and operated by Representative Nehls and started in 2019.”

“The sporadic nature of the payments, as well as the lack of publicly available information linking Liberty 1776 to the campaign headquarters, raises concerns regarding the personal use of campaign funds,” the report reads.

The report also shows that Nehls did not disclose any connection to Liberty 1776 in his annual finance reports, contradicting public records that show his ownership of the entity. However, the committee said it was unable to verify the information because Nehls refused to cooperate in the investigation, along with several members of his staff and campaign.

As a result, the OCE recommended the committee issue subpoenas to Nehls and eight other people connected to him in order to comply.

Nehls defended his decision not to cooperate, arguing the OCE “was created under Nancy Pelosi, which is why I refused to cooperate with the office.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“My books remain open, and I am cooperating with the legitimate House Committee on Ethics,” he said in a statement.

The OCE opened the investigation in July 2023, with at least three members of the ethics board voting to extend the inquiry into a second-phase review just one month later. The board later voted to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee, which took up the matter in March.