By Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez must repay nearly $3,000 in connection with her attendance at the 2021 Met Gala, the House Committee on Ethics announced Friday, citing violations of House gift rules and payment delays for services received.
She made a big deal about her dress when she wore it:
Remember AOC's "tax the rich" Met Gala dress?
She stiffed her vendors, paying less than $1,000 for rented clothes and accessories worth nearly 4x as much.
The House Ethics Committee is making her pay them back.
Pay your fair share, AOC! pic.twitter.com/g0riDANLoN
— Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) July 25, 2025
It turns out that there’s nothing socialists love more than pretending to be poor while being rich. The Committee’s Office of Congressional Ethics (OCC) concluded that the New York Democrat had accepted impermissible gifts related to her appearance at the high-profile fundraising event, including the custom “Tax the Rich” gown she wore and a meal provided to her partner. According to the report, Ocasio-Cortez has been ordered to reimburse $2,983.28 — covering the fair market value of goods and services not properly paid for at the time, writes The New York Post.
The most significant charge stems from the rental of her designer dress. The retail value of the handmade gown, created by luxury label Brother Vellies, was estimated at $18,837.30. Ocasio-Cortez initially paid $300 for the rental, but the Committee determined that price was far below a reasonable rate. “[R]epresentative Ocasio-Cortez’s attempt to apply a retail rental cost to a handmade couture gown was unrealistic,” the report stated. The fair market rental value was assessed at $2,976.29, leaving her responsible for the remaining balance.
She was also instructed to donate $250 to the Costume Institute to account for the cost of her partner’s meal. The Committee clarified that free admission and meals are permitted only for a member’s spouse or dependent, not guests.
Beyond the underpayment, the Committee noted significant delays in settling invoices related to the event, reports The Daily Caller. In the months following the gala, Ocasio-Cortez’s team received warnings from vendors, including her hairstylist and makeup artist. A September 2021 email from the hairstylist’s agency warned a former campaign aide, “Obviously it would look terrible if we had to file a complaint with the NY Dept of Labor against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress.” Her makeup artist similarly reported an overdue invoice four months after the event, calling it “still outstanding and EXTREMELY overdue.” Although all bills were ultimately paid, the Committee flagged the delays as troubling.
Ocasio-Cortez testified that she was confused about how payments were being handled. “I didn’t know in terms of how it was structured,” she said, indicating uncertainty about whether certain costs were being covered by Brother Vellies or others involved in organizing her appearance.
Her legal counsel defended her conduct, stating that “[I]t would be nonsensical to suggest that the Congresswoman should have been prepared to pay for aspects of items and services that she didn’t know about and didn’t authorize,” and emphasized that her office had conducted “due diligence.” The Committee, however, found she could have sought guidance at any point, noting that House ethics rules require members to clarify gift-related issues in advance.
While the OCC determined that Ocasio-Cortez “failed to exercise proper oversight over a staffer working on her behalf,” it did not find evidence of intent to violate ethics rules. “The Committee did not find evidence that Representative Ocasio-Cortez intentionally underpaid for any goods or services received in connection with the Met Gala,” the report concluded. Still, it said she “impermissibly” accepted her partner’s admission and failed to pay full market value for certain items, thus breaching House Gift Rule provisions.
Mike Casca, Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, said in a statement that “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. She accepts the ruling and will remedy the remaining amounts, as she’s done at each step in this process.”
The Committee stressed that Ocasio-Cortez largely relied on her attorney’s advice and that communications regarding payments were mostly handled by a campaign staffer — further underscoring that the delays were not deliberate.
“Tax the Rich” indeed.
