Far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has listed her fiancé, Riley Roberts, as her “spouse” in disclosure forms filed this year — but her office says the two have never been “legally married,” a likely breach of House ethics rules.
The Bronx and Queens lawmaker referred to Roberts as her “spouse” while describing their travels to Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Italy, according to legal filings to the House Ethics Committee first reported Wednesday by the Washington Free Beacon.
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), 33, flew to the Far East in January on a trip sponsored by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and to South America in August for a visit sponsored by liberal billionaire George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Roberts paid his own way on both trips, both trip sponsors confirmed to the Free Beacon.
In August 2022, the pol also footed the bill for a week-long vacation in Venice, Italy, with her fiancé — and was sponsored as a guest at an art conference hosted by a Los Angeles-based charity during that time.
But Ocasio-Cortez, who confirmed in May 2022 that she was engaged, remains unmarried to Roberts, according to her spokeswoman.
“They are not legally married,” Lauren Hitt, a rep for the “Squad” member, told the Free Beacon. “House Ethics has commonly recognized the term ‘spouse’ to extend to long-term partners.”
In fact, the House Ethics Manual states that a “spouse” listed in disclosure forms must be someone to whom a member is “legally married.” Under the ethics rules, AOC would have been expected to disclose Roberts’ financial information.
If she knowingly filed false information in the reports, Ocasio-Cortez could face a fine of up to $50,000 or, in very rare cases, up to five years in federal prison. More likely, she could face censure by the Republican-controlled House.
Roberts, a web developer whom the congresswoman started dating in 2019, has no reported assets, liabilities or stock holdings in the financial disclosure forms, prompting ethics questions.
“If Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is going to refer to Mr. Roberts as her spouse in the context of one kind of ethics disclosure, it would be logical and consistent for her to do so in the context of all ethics disclosures, including annual financial disclosures and periodic transaction reports,” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, a senior government affairs manager at the Project on Government Oversight, told the Free Beacon.
“If they were married, then she would be required to disclose his finances on her 2022 financial disclosure,” Kendra Arnold, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, also told the outlet. “There is no exception to this rule.”
Last month, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) belatedly amended his own financial disclosures to include at least $500,000 from his wife’s investments and pension payments over the years, raising similar concerns.
Reps for Ocasio-Cortez and the House Ethics Committee did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
The far-left congresswoman has pushed legislation to ban members of Congress or their spouses from owning stocks — and last month lobbied for Attorney General Merrick Garland to launch an investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for “failing to report significant gifts he received from Harlan Crow and other billionaires.”
Ocasio-Cortez has said she does not own stocks or cryptocurrencies herself as part of her public commitment to being an ethical officeholder.
The New York Democrat is already embroiled in an ethics scandal for potentially accepting an improper gift when she wore her infamous “Tax the Rich” dress to the 2021 Met Gala.
The House Ethics Committee determined earlier this year that she failed to pay the designer who made the dress for eight months — and only did so after congressional investigators inquired about her flashy gown and accompanying handbag, which was initially billed at upwards of $2,000.
That investigation is ongoing.