Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has taken almost $13,000 in potentially illegal foreign donations to fund his campaign, according to the New York Post.
The Democrat politician, who is leading the polls to become NYC’s next mayor, has raked in donations from 170 people whose addresses are registered abroad, and so far, 88 have not been returned.
One donation comes from Mamdani’s mother-in-law in Dubai, while $2,100 came from James Furlaud, an environmental scientist at Australia’s University of Tasmania.
Another $2,100 came from Dubai-based investor Ada Diaz Ahmed, and $250 from Jun-Dai Bates Kobashigawa, according to NYC Campaign Finance Board records seen by the Post.
Federal, state and city laws dictate that only US citizens or permanent legal residents are allowed to contribute to political campaigns.
If a candidate receives an illegal foreign donation, they must return it, and anyone who violates this rule can face hefty fines and even prison time.
However, so far, Mamdani’s campaign has not returned 88 of the foreign donations it received, worth a total of $7,190.
The returned donations include $500 from Dubai-based pediatrician Dr Bariah Dardari, who is the mother of Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji.
Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has taken almost $13,000 in potentially illegal foreign donations to fund his campaign, according to the New York Post
The returned donations include $500 from Dubai-based pediatrician Dr Bariah Dardari (pictured), who is the mother of Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji
A donation of $2,100 came from James Furlaud (pictured), an environmental scientist at Australia’s University of Tasmania. The Daily Mail has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign
The Daily Mail has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment.
They told the Post in a statement that ‘we will of course return any donations that are not in compliance with CFB law’.
However, a campaign spokesperson, declined to address why so many foreign donations are yet to be returned.
Mamdani’s campaign has collected $4 million in private donations so far from 54,000 contributors, along with $12.7 million in public matching funds.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa slammed his rival for the foreign donations.
‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, so I would be very concerned,’ Sliwa told the Post.
‘There is probably a lot more in terms of foreign money.’
It comes two months after Sliwa told Fox Business that he was calling on the US Department of Justice to investigate his suspicions that Mamdani is being supported by ‘dark money’ which is illegally being funneled into super PACs from abroad.
‘It’s very problematic, not just for Zohran Mamdani, but anybody who has these kinds of PACs, because it’s a license to illegally funnel money,’ Sliwa told The Post.
‘And foreign countries know you don’t have to go to war against America. All you gotta do is manipulate the election.’
One donation comes from Mamdani’s mother-in-law in Dubai, Dr Bariah Dardari (pictured)
Mamdani’s foreign donations also came from Ugur Macit, of Muhlheim am Main in Germany, who gave $250, and Ahmed Enbya, a physician in Calgary, Canada, who sent $100.
Meanwhile, Nupur Amin Marquardt, a US citizen who works as a consultant in Hamburg, Germany, donated $50 to Mamdani’s campaign in August.
Amin Marquardt is a US citizen so her donation is legal. She said that although she has no connection to NYC she wanted to back Mamdani’s campaign.
‘It’s the only campaign I’ve seen that’s not trying to win by convincing a group of people to hate another group of people,’ she told the Post Wednesday.
Most of the donations to Mamdani’s campaign have come from outside of New York City, records show.
The city’s Campaign Finance Board said it is in the process of auditing the campaigns for the upcoming mayoral election in November.
Mamdani’s campaign is supported by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, as she revealed in an endorsement for the candidate in a New York Times op-ed.
He is up against fellow Democratic candidate and former governor Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
The incumbent New York Mayor, Eric Adams, dropped out of the race in September.
Adams said ‘the constant media speculation’ about the future and his ‘finance board withholding millions of dollars has undermined his ability’ to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign.
