A $40K check was stolen in the mail from Jim Banks's U.S. Senate campaign
Nearly $40,000 was stolen from Indiana Rep. Jim Banks’s U.S. Senate campaign committee last year after a check was swiped in the mail and fraudulently cashed, according to a note his campaign attached to a Federal Elections Commission report. The report was recently flagged by an FEC analyst seeking more information about the funds.
Banks for Senate, the congressman’s political fundraising committee, issued the $40,000 check to a Florida-based direct marketing company last July. The check, a tiny portion of the committee's 2023 funds, was stolen while it was going through the U.S. Postal Service’s mail process and subsequently cashed, according to the note attached to a campaign finance report about spending from October through December.
The Banks for Senate committee immediately reported the issue to law enforcement, notified its bank of fraud and closed the campaign account, the campaign said in its note. The funds were returned to the committee in December and the direct marketing company was eventually paid in full.
“It is important to note that there are no wrongdoers or bad actors within the committee, and that the treasurer and finance team took every step to rectify the situation as soon as it was discovered,” the FEC note states.
Staff at the campaign's Maryland-based compliance firm said it contacted a local police department after realizing the check was stolen, and that a criminal investigation is ongoing. The Maryland police department was not immediately able to confirm to IndyStar it was investigating. Likewise, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement arm of the Postal Service, said it could not comment on or confirm the existence of any ongoing investigations.
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In an email provided to IndyStar, a representative of the committee's compliance firm said it has put practices in place to issue campaign payments electronically and started use of a digital check system that shields bank account numbers if checks are sent in the mail.
In an April 7 letter warning of a potential audit, FEC analysts asked the Banks campaign about the $40,000 check that "appears to be related to apparent unauthorized use of campaign funds." The letter said analysts noted the theft explanation attached to the report and requested the campaign share additional information once any is available.
The stolen check likely had minimal impact on operations of the Banks for Senate committee. In 2023, the committee reported more than $3.4 million raised from individuals and other political committees, according to FEC data. The committee spent just over $2 million last year to support Banks's campaign.
Banks is the lone Republican running in Indiana’s U.S. Senate primary in May. Seymour-area egg farmer John Rust was removed from the primary ballot in February for not meeting the state’s two-primary law requirements to make the ballot.
In November Banks will face the winner of next month’s Democratic primary: Marc Carmichael or Valerie McCray.
Contact IndyStar's state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X@CarloniBrittany.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: A $40K check was stolen in the mail from Jim Banks's campaign in 2023
