Despite being a crusader for transparency on the campaign trail, Jon Ossoff, a candidate for Georgia’s Democratic Senate, is refusing to disclose information about his personal finances and investments, according to a new report.
The 33-year-old challenges GOP Sen. David Perdue in one of two pivotal Peach State races that will decide whether Joe Biden will control the upper chamber of Congress or be forced to negotiate with Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R – Ky.).
On the campaign trail, Ossoff touts himself as a crusader against corruption who, through his production company Insight: The World Investigates, has made hard-hitting documentaries about fraud in countries like Ghana.
But the Atlanta-born former congressman has refused to be transparent about his own personal finances.
Ossoff has been silent about the $ 250,000 loan he provided to the company when he became CEO in 2013 at the age of 26, or the undisclosed donation he made when he became majority shareholder, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Questions have also been raised about how much money the Democratic darling has accepted from China and Qatar after negotiating deals with a Hong Kong news agency and Qatar-backed Al Jazeera to air two of his Islamic State films.
Ossoff claimed that his films were sold to Al Jazeera English, not the Arab branch, and that he received only $ 1,000 in broadcasting rights from the Hong Kong company, which Perdue said was “a communist Chinese news agency.”
The Senate has hopefully refused to provide further financial documents relating to the company to the Washington Post, calling them “confidential.”
He has also declined to say how much he inherited from his grandfather, who owned a leather factory in Massachusetts, but this figure is expected to run into the millions, according to the Washington Post report.
The Peach State political hopeful has also refused to release his tax returns, but the personal disclosure form he filed as a candidate for senate puts his personal fortune at between $ 2.3 million and $ 8.8 million.
Wealth has become a focal point in the Georgia Senate’s two run-off races as Democratic challengers Perdue, 71, and Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Republican lawmaker involved in this year’s stock trading controversy, seek to overthrow.
An investigation eventually cleared Loeffler of any wrongdoing after she dumped millions of dollars worth of stock following a private briefing to senators on COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic.
Perdue is also one of Congress’ most prolific traffickers and, with a net worth of $ 15.8 million, one of the wealthiest members of the Senate.
According to the Washington Post report, Ossoff – who was described by Republicans as “a socialist trust fund” with “zero real-life achievements” – was called upon to lead Insight: TWI by founder Ron McCullagh, who met Ossoff when he was 16 years old. was old. family holiday in France.
“I knew he could,” McCullagh told the publication, despite Ossoff’s lack of experience in journalism or running a business.
“I’ve been running it for 22 years and I wanted to find new blood to take it over.”
Ossoff retired from the company in 2017 when he took his first botched foray into politics and ran for Congress in Georgia’s ruby 6th Congressional District – then the most expensive House race in history.