A Maryland man who created a pro-Trump PAC during the 2016 campaign was indicted for tax evasion after using donations to purchase a luxury European car, an engagement ring for his fiance, and a chartered yacht cruise during which he proposed, the Baltimore Banner reports.
Ian Hawes created American Horizon PAC, registering it in Texas for the 2016 election. According to OpenSecrets.org, the group raised more than $1.1 million from 20,000 donors during the election cycle, but did not register any donations to federal candidates. The group’s primary solicitation promotion promised to raffle off a chance to have dinner with Donald Trump himself; turns out, no donor was ever selected to have dinner with Trump. At one point, the fraud was so blatant, even the campaign of the now-indicted ticket-topping fraudster sent him a cease-and-desist order in 2016, Politico reports.
Instead, Hawes used more than $375,000 dollars of the money on personal items, including purchasing a German-made Audi, buying an engagement ring for his fiance, and chartering a private yacht cruise during which he reportedly proposed. Other than paying for his personal expenses, Hawes directed $133,000 to a data mining company he owned, and used more than $400,000 for online advertising.