New Mother Jones Reporting Exposes More of Flippo’s Fraud Including At Least One Fake Donation
“One person listed in FEC records as a major donor to Flippo’s campaigns told me they had not donated anything to Flippo, let alone the thousands of dollars attributed to them.”
“Far from settling questions about Flippo’s finances, his disclosure raised a host of new ones.” – Mother Jones
New bombshell reporting exposes just how far David Flippo’s fraud reaches. Fraudulent Flippo may have thought releasing a draft financial disclosure to the media without, as Mother Jones pointed out, the “page where the candidate must sign the document, under penalty of potential civil and criminal sanctions, and attest that its contents are ‘true, complete, and correct’” would relieve the pressure on him, but instead it is only sounding more alarm bells.
The reporting suggests that Fraudulent Flippo’s largest asset resembles a “scam” and that he is reporting another major asset from a company that appears not to exist. Fraudulent Flippo also reported a fake donation on his FEC report, which “suggests very serious campaign finance violations” and a potential straw donor scheme.
From his military record to his professional background to his financial disclosures, it appears there is nothing Fraudulent Flippo won’t lie about.
Mother Jones: David Flippo Has Close Ties to Accused Fraudster Whose Company Spent Lavishly on His Behalf
Key points:
- Far from settling questions about Flippo’s finances, his disclosure raised a host of new ones.
- “There are a lot of questions about this filing at the outset,” said Brendan Fischer, the director of strategic investigations at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “But even taking it at face value, it hardly answers the question of how Flippo came up with $1.6 million to loan to his campaign.” Fischer added that “there are serious questions about the valuation of some of his biggest assets, and the other numbers really don’t add up to somebody who has $1.6 million in extra cash to put into a congressional run.”
- But a nationwide search of corporate registrations shows no record of an active company in the United States called America First Home Mortgage. The CEO of a similarly named Las Vegas company, America First Mortgage, told me his company has no affiliation with Flippo. He also knows of no business that goes by that name.
- “[H]e takes money from investors and never paid [them] back,” the man who sold McDowell the Meadview motel alleged in court filings, calling McDowell a “con.” His comments came in connection with the 2021 bankruptcy of Canyons End, the McDowell LLC that owns the property. Federal court records show McDowell’s motel LLC ended up owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to numerous creditors, including federal and state tax authorities, which the company agreed to pay more than $250,000.
- Documents filed in federal court portray the mining venture as a total failure. In response to Rock Cabin Mining’s bankruptcy plan, a United States Trustee wrote, “There is simply no credible evidence that the Debtor will be able to mine any gold at all much less generate over $6 million in one year from what is currently just raw land.” Nor was it the first time that one of McDowell’s companies had failed in a gold mining venture, according to court documents. The bankruptcy case ended disastrously for creditors with the trustee only managing to collect 82 cents, according to court records.
- One person listed in FEC records as a major donor to Flippo’s campaigns told me they had not donated anything to Flippo, let alone the thousands of dollars attributed to them. Fischer said that “suggests very serious campaign finance violations.”
- Flippo’s close involvement with the company raises the prospect that he may have used the venture as a vehicle to curry favor with influential Republicans. The congressional candidate may have also helped to provide Arizona Land Reserve with a sense of legitimacy. The company’s public Facebook page includes photos of Flippo at two events. It singles him out as a featured guest at a November 2025 watch party for a Las Vegas F1 race, where Flippo was photographed on a high-rise balcony with a cigar in hand. He also attended a 2025 business aviation conference in Las Vegas with Tuminello, the Facebook page shows.
- That included Brenda Lee McGarry, McDowell’s ex-wife. Another donor listed under the first and middle name of a woman who has posted about being McDowell’s current wife was reported as donating $3,500 that day. (Neither McGarry or McDowell’s partner responded to requests for comment.)
- One person listed in FEC records as a major donor to Flippo’s campaigns told me they had not donated anything to Flippo, let alone the thousands of dollars attributed to them. Fischer said that “suggests very serious campaign finance violations.”
- “Making a donation in the name of another person is a clear violation of the law,” he explained. “It’s a violation of the straw donor ban, which is one of the most serious violations in campaign finance law, and one that can potentially result in criminal penalties.”
- Among the oddities in the Flippo disclosure document provided to the media, Fischer noted, was that a few pages were missing. That includes the page where the candidate must sign the document, under penalty of potential civil and criminal sanctions, and attest that its contents are “true, complete, and correct.”
- In light of all the irregularities, Fischer said, “I don’t even know how to describe what this report is.”
Read full story here
###
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
