AOC wore a rather hypocritical “Tax the Rich” dress to the Met Gala this year. The congresswoman attended the $30,000 per plate gala wearing a gown by designer Aurora James.
James attended the same event with Democratic-Socialist AOC showing off the ridiculous dress despite the fact the designer has unpaid tax debts that she has been running from.
The parent of her brand, Cultural Brokerage Agency, now known as Brother Vellies, has racked up three tax warrants in New York for failure to withhold income tax from her employees’ paychecks. The company dug itself into a deeper hole between April 2018 and April 2019 when the IRS put six federal liens on them totaling $103,220. The liens were due to the company’s failure to pay the employee payroll taxes.
“Just because they take it out of your paycheck doesn’t mean they’re sending it to the government,” David Cenedella, a Baruch College taxation lecturer explained after reviewing the liens. “It’s certainly not something you want. I would not say your average business out there has this. Something went wrong.”
James’ house is currently listed as delinquent by the LA County assessor’s office due to the property taxes not being paid. She owes $2,504.
She’s a hypocrite in many ways. She won’t pay her fair share of taxes yet she had no issues with taking $41,666 in relief aid during the pandemic.
Cultural Brokerage Agency received a fine in October 2019 from the Worker’s Compensation Board for $17,000 due to the fact they did not carry worker’s-comp insurance for the employees between March 2017 and February 2018.
To further complicate things for the “Tax the Rich” dress designer, is the fact that the landlord for the now Brother Vellies filed to evict the company in August of 2020 due to the fact they stayed beyond their lease and owed $25,000.
She was sued by a previous landlord in February 2018 for more than $5,000 in unpaid rent at her shop’s old address at 209 West 38th Street in Manhattan.
“Aurora, obviously we did not want it to come to this, but you never have paid your rent in a timely manner,” wrote Matthew Mandell, a rep for her Manhattan landlord in a frustrated March 2018 email. “We have been more than patient.”
Let’s think about this. AOC, a supposed warrior for the working class person, wore a dress, to a $30,000 event with elites who are part of the rich class she wants to tax, designed by a woman who doesn’t pay her taxes or workers-comp benefits for her employees.
“I experienced a lot of harassment when I worked for her,” one former contract employee told The New York Post. “Aurora would ask me to do things that were not in anyone’s job description, like scheduling her gynecological appointments. The work environment was so hostile that I was afraid to ask for my check.” The employee was ultimately terminated.
On September 15, the American Accountability Foundation group filed an ethics complaint against AOC stating she violated congressional rules by attending the Met gala.
“There are serious questions about whether or not her ticket — donated or purchased with campaign funds — was permissible under the code of congressional ethics,” said The American Accountability Foundation in a statement. “
“These rules exist for a reason. Without strict adherence, we run the risk of corruption in the halls of Congress and public officials serving others over their constituents. Government has a responsibility to its citizens, and integrity and accountability should be our foremost concern.”
The event is attended by Hollywood celebrities and influencers every year, and tickets for the event reportedly cost $35,000, while tables, which are typically sponsored by companies, range between $200,000 and $300,000.
A second ethics complaint was filed against the congresswoman on September 16 by the National Legal and Policy Center. The complaint alleged that AOC improperly accepted tickets from a table sponsor for herself and her boyfriend.
House rules allow members to take free tickets to charity events directly from event organizers, and The Post reported Tuesday that AOC and boyfriend Riley Roberts were directly invited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
However, the NLPC argued that “it is the table sponsor who is gifting or underwriting a coveted seat to AOC at the Gala.
“And if … the table where AOC sat was one paid for by one of [the] corporations attending the event, such as Instagram or Facebook, AOC has received a prohibited gift from the corporation that also lobbies Congress.”
These are the elite who think they can control your lives. Remember, rules for thee and not for me.
