Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been hit with a second ethics complaint after accepting a free ticket to the 2021 Met Gala.
On Monday night, the 31-year-old New York Representative stunned social media users when images of her on the red carpet, dressed in a white gown adorned with the message "Tax The Rich", emerged online.
However, the congresswoman has been accused of violating congressional rules by attending the event.
There is a House Gift rule against accepting lavish gifts, which Ocasio-Cortez has been accused of breaching given that she accepted a reported $35,000 ticket to the event, and was supposedly gifted her "Tax The Rich" gown as well as a stay at the luxury Carlyle Hotel on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
The second complaint, obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, was filed by Paul Kamenar of the National Legal and Policy Center to the Office of Congressional Ethics yesterday (September 16).
The complaint read: "Representative Ocasio-Cortez may have violated the House Gift Rule by accepting free admission for herself and boyfriend to the Met Gala event and receiving related gifts before, during, or after the event, including the use of custom-designed dress, limousine service, the use of the Carlyle Hotel, professional hair and makeup services, and any other related services or goods."
It went on to slam AOC's decision to accept a seat at a sponsored table that it claims costs an eyewatering sum of somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000.
The complaint continued: "In short, it is the table sponsor who is gifting or underwriting a coveted seat to AOC at the Gala.
"And if the sponsor of the table where AOC sat was one paid for by one of the corporations attending the event, such as Instagram or Facebook, AOC has received a prohibited gift from the corporation that also lobbies Congress."
The complaint went on to condemn the congresswoman for attending the event with her boyfriend Riley Roberts as, according to House rules, a second free ticket must be given to either a charity, a spouse, or a child.
It added: "Thus, because her boyfriend is not her 'spouse or dependent,' her acceptance of an 'invite plus one' to the Met Gala would violate the Gift Rule unless AOC or her boyfriend paid for his $35,000 ticket, an unlikely scenario."
The first ethics complaint was filed by conservative watchdog organization the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) on Tuesday (14 September).
The AAF wrote on Twitter: "We filed a formal complaint against AOC for her blatant ethics violations at the NYC Met Gala. Her $35,000 ticket and custom designer gown fail to meet any definition of 'official duties', and warrant a full investigation into her attendance."