Kanye West’s Presidential Campaign Possibly Violated Campaign Fundraising Practices

Kanye West’s run for President of the United States did not turn out the way he would have liked. He got around 66,000 votes, but that might not have been worth it at all.

The Daily Beast reports that Kanye’s campaign accepted multiple donation from minors. That is a violation of fundraising law. It is also alleged that Ye might have accepted cash from foreign nationals as well. That’s an even bigger no-no when running for POTUS.

The Federal Election Commission cited several violations in its report of the rapper’s campaign. The investigation also said that the unlawful fundraising practices could add up to almost $100,000 in small donations.

Taking money from minors to use for a political campaign is not allowed. It seemed that Kanye targeted teens with some of his merchandise especially, including $40 hats and a $200 hat/hoodie bundle. Some of that Kanye 2020 merchandise has actually risen in value on the secondary market.

In the report, it was noted that a 16-year-old named Ian Bloom donated $3,280 by purchasing this merchandise from Ye. He ordered the gear in January from the campaign store and he hoped to re-sell it.

“I don’t know what’s happening there. I ordered like 20 hoodies off his campaign website, along with a lot of other people that I know. They said it would be three weeks, and after that I emailed the support team, and the email just wasn’t a thing.”

It is said that of the 3,161 reported donations, over 1,200 of those came from students, accumulating to $349,160 in total, $26,540 in 2021 alone.

That secondary market value on Kanye’s campaign merchandise might not matter to The Federal Election Commission. The review is underway, and we will continue monitoring this ongoing story.