A finance watchdog has filed a criminal complaint against NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for allegedly accepting illegal foreign campaign contributions, which violates federal and state election laws.
The Coolidge Reagan Foundation filed the referrals to both the Department of Justice and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, urging investigation and prosecution of Mamdani. The filings were prepared by CRF president Dan Backer, who spoke to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday about the process.
“These are not isolated incidents or clerical errors,” said Backer, a national campaign finance expert. “This was a sustained pattern of foreign money flowing into a New York City mayoral race, which is a clear violation of both federal law and New York City campaign finance rules. Mamdani’s campaign was on notice for months that it was accepting illegal foreign contributions, and yet it did nothing meaningful to stop it.”
According to the complaints, Mamdani’s campaign accepted at least 161 contributions from foreign sources between December 2024 and September 2025, totaling more than $12,000. The contributions came from individuals listing addresses in Dubai, Australia, Turkey, France, Canada, Germany, and other countries.
Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, it is unlawful to “accept or receive” contributions from foreign nationals in any federal, state, or local election. The law holds regardless of whether the contributions influenced a candidate’s behavior.
If the violation is knowing and willful, it becomes a criminal offense.
CRF also noted that most of the contributors provided no verifiable employment information. According to the list of individuals, viewed by the Post, most are unemployed, students, or self-employed. Backer explained that occupation and employer information is useful to indicate or to help identify who an individual is, and therefore track down whether or not they are in fact a legitimate contributor.
“The law is crystal clear that foreign nationals may not participate in American elections, and that includes making contributions,” Backer continued. “Yet Mamdani’s campaign repeatedly accepted donations from individuals abroad, some even tied to regions and individuals openly sympathetic to hostile actors. Whether through negligence or intent, this conduct undermines the integrity of the democratic process.”
Mamdani's team starts returning funds
On Thursday, Mamdani’s team said it had returned around $9,000 in the possibly illegal foreign donations and that the other $4,000 came from US citizens abroad. However, Backer told the Post that it may still be a violation.
“There’s a legitimate position if you receive money from an impermissible source – so a non-US citizen, non-green card holder – and you return it. That’s fine.
“The problem is that it comes down to a question of timing. If you return these funds within a reasonable amount of time, you know, there’s a fairly strong inference that you have a screening process, it showed you that these were impermissible funds, and then you refunded it.
“But that’s not what happened here.”
He explained that all the money must come through online contributions, and therefore, the moment it’s received, Mamdani’s team should know where the money is coming from, and know if it is “a potentially questionable transaction at that point because it comes from a non-US address.”
CRF’s letter to the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section requests a criminal investigation into potential FECA violations, while its referral to District Attorney Bragg cites possible violations of New York Election Law § 17.152, which makes it a misdemeanor for two or more persons to conspire to promote an election by unlawful means.
“Foreign money in American elections is not just a technical violation, it is a threat to self-government,” Shaun McCutcheon, chairman of the CRF, added. “Every dollar illegally funneled into a campaign from abroad dilutes the voice of lawful American voters. This case must be investigated immediately, and those responsible held accountable.”
Accountability is important, Backer told the Post.
“What often happens is reporters write about these stories, but then nobody does anything about it. And so one of the things that we do is we file criminal referrals to the appropriate regulatory or law enforcement agency in order to make it crystal clear how this is a violation of law.”
Handing the evidence to the legal teams helps propel an investigation forward. “A referral really lays out the facts and the law in a clear, concise, and actionable manner,” Backer added. While neither Bragg nor the DOJ is obligated to do anything, “the bigger of a deal something is, the more likely they are to investigate it.”