Marjorie Taylor Greene’s 2020 campaign manager and two others have agreed to pay back more than $50,000 in restitution and penalties for their roles in a phony fundraising scam in Ohio.
The fake charity, called the Ohio Clean Water Fund, was organized a day after the infamous East Palestine train derailment.
Nearly $149,000 was collected, and the group claimed the money would be given to the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley.
But the scammers gave only $10,000 to the food bank and pocketed the rest.
Isaiah Wartman and Luke Mahoney reached an agreement with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, which included a $22,000 repayment to the food bank and $3,000 in legal costs.
A Cleveland attorney for Wartman and Mahoney say they were duped, and victims of the fraud organization co-founders.
*Wartman has worked as Marjorie Taylor Greene’s campaign manager and as a senior advisor.
*Mahoney has worked as an aide for Elise Stefanik.
Michael Peppel, a co-founder of the scam charity, agreed to pay a $25,000 civil penalty and a lifetime ban on him starting, running or soliciting for any charity in Ohio.
*Peppel has worked for various state and federal Ohio lawmakers.
The settlement announced Thursday is in addition to a previous settlement of $132,000 from the same group and another co-founder of the fake charity.
