Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, a Democrat former bartender now representing New York in Congress, wore a specially produced gown in the pricey Met Gala a few years ago. It carried her political message to “Tax the Rich.”
Now she’s paying for it.
A report at the Business Insider reveals she’s “on the hook for $2,983.28” after the House Ethics panel closed its investigation into her stunt.
The ethics committee concluded she “impermissibly accepted gifts” during her appearance at the event in 2021.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Violated House Rules During Met Gala Appearance, Ethics Committee Sayshttps://t.co/D0yashkBuc pic.twitter.com/EQfpA6vVDW
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 25, 2025
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) should pay $2,733.28 for “impermissible gifts” related to her controversial attendance at the 2021 Met Gala, the House Ethics Committee decided in a 26-page report released Friday. https://t.co/1kEZ6BWgin
— Bloomberg Government (@BGOV) July 25, 2025
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Violated House Rules During Met Gala Appearance, Ethics Committee Says https://t.co/p1wzx9fUyT https://t.co/p1wzx9fUyT
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 25, 2025
The report explained the committee’s 31-page ruling confirmed that she stepped outside the House rules and she must pay from her own personal funds to solve the issue.
Included was $250 for her fiance, Riley Roberts, to attend the event, plus $2,733.28 to Brother Vellies, the business that fabricated the dress.
A spokesman for her office said she would make the payments.
“The Congresswoman appreciates the Committee finding that she made efforts to ensure her compliance with House Rules and sought to act consistently with her ethical requirements as a Member of the House. She accepts the ruling and will remedy the remaining amounts, as she’s done at each step in this process,” the statement said.
The report noted Cortez and Roberts already had paid another $6,853.75 for other services they received that night, such as transportation and lodging.
WND previously has reported on her penchant for extremism.
For example, she accused Christians of “weaponizing” the Bible to support “bigotry.”
At a Democratic-led House Oversight Committee hearing a few years ago regarding President Donald Trump’s “religious liberty assault on LGBTQ rights,” she said Christians who justified slavery in the 19th century did the same, the Washington Examiner reported.
“It’s very difficult to sit here and listen to arguments in the long history of this country of using Scripture and weaponizing and using Scripture to justify bigotry,” she said. “White supremacists have done it. Those who justify slavery have done it. Those who fought against integration did it.”
See her remarks:
She charged that the nation is writing bigotry into its laws.
“I am tired of communities of faith being weaponized and being mischaracterized because the only time religious freedom is invoked is in the name of bigotry and discrimination,” she said.
At the time, the Trump administration argued against LGBTQ activists using the law to force Christians to violate their faith in several cases. The government argued in a Kentucky case that a “non-discrimination” ordinance cannot be used to force a wedding photographer to violate her Christian faith by advocating for same-sex ceremonies.