A House Congressional Ethics panel is recommending further investigation of U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles after finding he likely violated federal campaign finance laws, mainly by reporting an inflated personal loan to make his bid for office look stronger.
In his first run for Congress representing the newly drawn 5th Congressional District in 2022, Ogles reported receiving a $320,000 personal loan for his campaign. The Culleoka Republican said in an April 2022 news release that he raised $450,000, including the six-figure infusion to his campaign. His first report with the Federal Election Commission showed he raised only $250,0000.
In May 2024, he amended campaign finance reports for the previous two years, acknowledging he made only a $20,000 loan to his campaign and saying the additional $300,000 was in a joint account he shared with his wife. Still, Ogles and his campaign manager were unable to “definitively” confirm the source of the $20,000 to ethics board investigators.
The ethics board voted 6-0 to call for a closer look at Ogles’ finances because “there is substantial reason to believe that Rep. Ogles omitted or misrepresented required information in his finance disclosure statements or FEC candidate committee reports,” the board’s report says. It also says more review is necessary because of the likelihood that Ogles’ campaign committee accepted excessive contributions reported as personal loans and contributions from him.
The Office of Congressional Ethics started its review in February 2024 following media reports about Ogles’ finances and whether he had enough income to lend his campaign $320,000. Ogles refused to cooperate, declining to produce documents and participate in an interview.
On the last day of the panel’s review, Ogles’ attorney provided a letter stating that while he had identified $320,000 in personal funds available for the campaign, only $20,000 was transferred.
Addressing his amended report, Ogles said the $320,000 was a “pledge” to his campaign from assets such as bank and retirement accounts.
The ethics board, though, said Ogles’ refusal to cooperate hindered its ability to assess his intent in overreporting the loan and cash on hand in his account. But it says he was responsible for the inaccurate reporting.
Nashville car dealership magnate Lee Beaman served as Ogles’ treasurer early in his campaign before being replaced by Thomas Datwyler.
The report also says Ogles “apparently exercised control over his campaign finances to the exclusion of his campaign treasurer and manager,” and provided improper documentation to his treasurer. He also failed to take advantage of several opportunities to correct them on the real amount of the loan.
Ogles’ campaign manager, who is not identified in the report, speculated to the ethics board that Ogles might have overreported the loan amount to make his campaign look stronger and “buy the primary.” He defeated former Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell and former Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead.
“This $300,000 difference was not inconsequential — or overlooked,” the ethics board found.
Ogles’ campaign manager told the board the campaign didn’t seem to be operating in a “cash crunch” at the time but that in hindsight it was “tighter” than they thought.
(READ MORE: Columbia Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles’ new financial disclosure to show missing loan)
The report says Ogles had “significant control” over the campaign’s finances and that neither his treasurer nor manager had access to the bank account and depended on him for information. A treasurer told the ethics board that Ogles provided “misleading documentation” about the $320,000 loan.
Ogles’ campaign manager told investigators that press releases dealing with campaign finances were “merely regurgitated information” from Ogles.
A 2023 U.S. House finance disclosure form filed in September 2024 lists a loan worth between $500,001 and $1 million from FirstBank in September 2022. He failed to disclose it previously.
It came up after the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog organization, filed a complaint claiming Ogles had nearly $1 million in finance discrepancies between his House disclosure form and campaign finance reports.
Ogles’ attorney confirmed he had a $700,000 line of credit opened in September 2022 that wasn’t included in his candidate or member financial disclosures. He didn’t indicate whether it was used to finance the $20,000 loan.
After Ogles’ Republican primary victory last August, FBI agents searched his property and seized his cellphone as part of a fraud investigation.
Read more at TennesseeLookout.com.