FEC raises questions about Sen. Braun’s campaign finances

INDIANA (WFIE) - A draft audit by the Federal Election Commission raised questions about $8.5 million in loans taken out by Sen. Mike Braun’s campaign in 2018.

Click here to see the audit.

There was an audit hearing Wednesday. You can see that here:

The improper fund claims include around $1.5 million from Meyer Distributing. Corporate contributions are illegal.

Meyer Distributing is the company Braun created.

The Federal Election Commission audit is investigating if five loans and 11 lines of credit totaling more than $7 million were improperly given to the campaign.

Braun’s Chief of staff sent us the following statement.

“The DRAFT audit report issued by the FEC’s audit staff nearly two months ago was just that: a draft issued before the campaign committee provided the necessary documentation to clear up the loan issues raised in the report. However, if you have read the documents that the campaign committee has since provided to the FEC or listened to the recent hearing with the FEC Commissioners, it is clear that the final version of the FEC’s audit report will conclude that all the loans fully complied with the law. Sometimes these FEC audits require time to work themselves out; that has been the case here, and we’re not the least bit concerned about how the process will end.” - Joshua Kelley Chief of Staff and Senior Political Advisor

Kelley tells us the draft audit was part of a multi-step process.

He says the campaign was given the opportunity to provide documentation it feels proves the money in question was all given legitimately.

Kelley says a committee is now reviewing those documents to see if they are satisfactory proof.

We are told no timeline on when a decision will be made.

Kelley tells us the campaign is not authorized to release the documents they submitted after the hearing, since they are official bank documents.