The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative-leaning watchdog group, says it has asked federal regulators and House ethics investigators to review nearly $19,000 in 2025 campaign disbursements by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that were reported to the Federal Election Commission as “leadership training and consulting.” The group alleges the payments went to a psychiatrist associated with a ketamine-treatment clinic and may have been for personal services, an allegation that could not be independently confirmed from public filings reviewed by this outlet.
The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) says it has filed a complaint urging scrutiny of a series of 2025 campaign disbursements made by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s principal campaign committee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress.
According to the Daily Wire, which first reported the complaint, NLPC alleges that Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign, its treasurer, Frank Llewellyn, and the committee itself violated federal campaign-finance rules and House ethics standards by reporting payments to a psychiatrist as “leadership training and consulting” while, NLPC argues, the services may have been personal in nature.
Public information on the Federal Election Commission’s website confirms that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress is an active committee and that Frank Llewellyn is listed as its treasurer, though the FEC summary pages do not by themselves establish the purpose or nature of any particular vendor relationship.
The Daily Wire report identifies the recipient as Dr. Brian Boyle and says the campaign’s filings described the expense category as “leadership training and consulting,” totaling $18,725 in 2025. Those details could not be fully verified in this review without the underlying itemized disbursement entries referenced by the outlet.
Dr. Boyle is listed on Stella Mental Health’s website as the clinic’s Chief Psychiatric Officer and as a physician experienced with treatments including ketamine therapy. Stella also advertises stellate ganglion block (SGB) treatment.
In the complaint, NLPC counsel Paul Kamenar argued that there was “reason to believe” the spending was not for a “bona fide campaign or political purpose,” and suggested it may have been “personal psychiatric therapy,” according to the Daily Wire’s account.
Federal campaign-finance law generally prohibits using campaign funds for “personal use,” though whether a specific expenditure violates that rule typically depends on the facts and on how the spending relates to campaign activity.
Separately, Ocasio-Cortez has publicly supported expanded research into psychedelic and related therapies for conditions such as PTSD and depression. In 2019, she offered an amendment tied to restrictions on federal research into certain controlled substances, including MDMA and psilocybin, though it did not pass.
Ocasio-Cortez has also spoken publicly about seeking therapy following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
NLPC urged the Office of Congressional Conduct—formerly the Office of Congressional Ethics—to take action, including referring the matter to the House Ethics Committee, the Daily Wire reported. As of publication, there was no public confirmation from the Office of Congressional Conduct that it had opened a review, and Ocasio-Cortez’s office and campaign had not responded to inquiries described in the Daily Wire report.
