Gaetz Campaign’s Reports of Vast Spending on Fees Are Scrutinized

The former Florida lawmaker disclosed millions in payments to financial middleman Stripe, drawing an FEC complaint by an advocacy group.

By David Ingold and Ted Mann

November 21, 2024 at 3:00 PM PST

Matt Gaetz speaks during the Florida Freedom Summit in Kissimmee, Florida, in 2023.

Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Former Congressman Matt Gaetz’s campaign committee has reported spending millions of dollars on Stripe Inc.’s payment-processing services in recent years, though it now says that those funds ultimately went somewhere else — and campaign-finance watchers say that’s a problem.

During the 2024 election cycle, Gaetz’s principal campaign committee, Friends of Matt Gaetz, said in Federal Election Commission filings that it had paid a total of $1.2 million in “e-merchant fees” to Stripe, a San Francisco-based financial-services company. The sum is equivalent to about 19% of all contributions the campaign took in during the period, the filings show.

https://campaignlegal.org/press-releases/new-campaign-legal-center-files-fec-complaint-against-matt-gaetzs-campaign-over