NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles faces yet another official complaint that accuses him of engaging in an "overarching effort" to hide how he raised and spent money for his two campaigns for Congress.
That latest complaint — filed with the Federal Election Commission by the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C. — focuses on the Maury County Republican’s false claims to have personally loaned $320,000 to his campaign in 2022, as well as numerous other discrepancies recently uncovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
"Taken together, these wide-ranging reporting violations suggest Ogles' overarching effort to obscure how he raised and spent money in pursuit of federal office, a flagrant violation of the transparency mandated by the Federal Election Campaign Act," the complaint reads.
Ogles has previously downplayed the false loan report as a reporting error, while his campaign manager blamed the more recent discrepancies on a computer glitch. Following those recent questions, the campaign manager said Ogles would amend his campaign reports to correct the mistakes — a move that has not occurred.
The latest development comes as Ogles faces an ongoing investigation by the House Ethics Committee, as well as an apparently floundering FBI probe.
Local prosecutors withdrew from that federal investigation at the beginning of the Trump administration, leaving Department of Justice lawyers to handle it. There has been no public movement on the case in more than six months.
The CLC complaint argues that, "particularly in light of the apparent, imminent ending of a criminal investigation of Ogles and his campaign — which appears to reflect a new policy of dropping corruption-related cases — it is essential that the Commission enforce the law and vindicate these core transparency principles."
NewsChannel 5's ongoing investigation of the second-term congressman began with the revelation that he had embellished his professional and academic credentials, falsely claiming to be a trained economist. That investigation also uncovered questions about what happened to money that Ogles had raised for a children's burial garden.
In November 2023, NewsChannel 5 Investigates first revealed that Ogles' personal financial disclosures did not reflect that he had the ability to loan $320,000 to his campaign, as he had claimed at the start of his 2022 campaign.
As a result, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), which has since triggered the investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
On May 15, 2024, Ogles admitted that he had only loaned his campaign $20,000.
That acknowledgement came "just hours before the OCE was scheduled to interview Ogles' campaign manager and treasurer," the newly filed FEC complaint notes.
During the OCE investigation, Ogles' campaign manager and campaign treasurer admitted that they never had access to Ogles' campaign accounts and that they just reported whatever the candidate and congressman told them to report.
The final report from the Office of Congressional Ethics, released by the House Ethics Committee in January, concludes that Ogles "may have intentionally misrepresented the amount of money he loaned to his campaign" in order to create "the appearance that his campaign had more money than it did."
OCE recommended that Ogles and other witnesses be subpoenaed by the House Ethics Committee to testify about what they know.
In addition, the FEC complaint just filed by the Campaign Legal Center notes NewsChannel 5's recent reporting about thousands of dollars in questionable spending by Ogles' campaign with vendors who are not in the business of providing the services that Ogles claimed his campaign received. As NewsChannel 5 Investigates revealed, in some cases, there is no evidence that the companies actually exist.
"A committee's failure to properly itemize its disbursements — including by providing inaccurate information regarding the recipient(s) or purpose for a disbursement — leaves voters in the dark about the entities working for the committee and the nature of the goods and services provided," the CLC complaint continues.
"That denies voters their informational interest in knowing where political campaign money comes from and how it is spent, and undermines the bedrock transparency necessary for voters to meaningfully evaluate candidates and make informed decisions."
The Federal Election Commission has the authority to impose civil penalties for any violations.
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January 9, 2024: A nonpartisan watchdog group has asked a federal ethics agency to investigate Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles over $1 million of discrepancies in financial disclosures he was required to file with the U.S. House. The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) repeatedly cites NewsChannel 5's reporting in the complaint that was filed Tuesday with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), comparing Ogles' conduct to disgraced New York Congressman George Santos.
May 22, 2024: Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles filed 11 amendments to his campaign finance reports Wednesday, acknowledging that his claims for the last two years to have loaned $320,000 to his campaign were not true.
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January 6, 2025: A recent release from the U.S. House Ethics Committee points to a worsening legal situation for Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles,who now faces a congressional investigation into a $320,000 campaign contribution that he appears to have completely fabricated.
January 8, 2025: Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles — with the help of a team of high-powered lawyers — has quietly managed to tie up an FBI investigation into his campaign finances for the past five months, NewsChannel 5 has discovered.
March 24, 2025: NewsChannel 5 uncovers numerous discrepancies in Ogles' campaign expenditures. Among our findings: tens of thousands of dollars that supposedly went to companies that do not appear to be in the business of providing the services for which Ogles claimed the money was spent. In some cases, there is no evidence that the companies actually exist.