Progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the queen of talking about income equality.
But living it is a whole other story for AOC!
Nearly four years after accepting more than $3,700 in rented apparel and other gifts for her then-viral appearance at the 2021 Met Gala where she wore a dress emblazoned with “Tax The Rich” in blood-red letters, AOC is now facing bad news from the House Ethics Committee for the move.
The House Ethics Committee says AOC owes thousands of dollars to a Black-owned, female-led accessories brand after breaching the House “Gift Rule.”
The violation stems from not paying the full market value for items she donned at the 2021 MET Gala, where she famously wore the “Tax the Rich” dress, and accepting free admission to the event for her fiancé, Riley Roberts.
Tickets to the Met Gala cost at least $30,000, the Associated Press reported. It is unclear whether Ocasio-Cortez purchased her own ticket.
The House Ethics Committee released its report late last Friday, finding that although AOC “proactively took steps” to comply with the Gift Rule in relation to her Met Gala appearance, she failed to fully comply.
The news was met with furor on social media, especially considering AOC’s vocal stance on income inequality.
🇺🇸 AOC WORE "TAX THE RICH" DRESS WHILE DODGING $3,700 BILL
The congresswoman who lectures you about income inequality?
Yeah, she reportedly stiffed vendors for her Met Gala look and only paid up when they threatened to sue.
Ethics panel just dropped the receipts: AOC accepted… https://t.co/Oaotu3WaLH pic.twitter.com/sqSfqjFFoJ
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 25, 2025
The congressional probe found evidence suggesting that the designer, Brother Vellies, may have lowered costs in response to statements from AOC’s staff, and that payments to vendors were significantly delayed, according to the report.
In several cases, payment did not occur until after the investigation was initiated, the committee noted.
The report also concluded that members of AOC’s staff were “overly reliant” on the vendors themselves to ensure her compliance with the Gift Rule, despite the vendors’ countervailing incentives to ensure she would be able to promote their goods and services.
It should be noted that the committee noted that AOC does owe additional money, they also said it did not conclude that the alleged underpayments had been “intentional.”
The committee instead placed the blame on a campaign staffer who handled payment discussions.
To her credit, AOC herself blamed her staff while speaking with investigators in March 2023, saying she did not know of any unpaid expenses related to the dress she had worn and stylists who prepared her for the gala.
“I just never, ever, ever would have allowed that to happen, knowing what I have learned,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the time.
“But I wasn’t privy to the invoices, wasn’t privy to the ones that had been sent.”
Based on the new findings, the committee determined it would be appropriate for AOC to make additional payments from personal funds to compensate for the fair market value of certain expenses.
According to the report, no sanctions will be imposed on AOC as she donates the $250 value of Roberts’ Met Gala meal to the Costume Institute and pays Brother Vellies an additional $2,733.28 for the fair market value of the accessories she received in connection with the gala.
AOC, the Costume Institute and Brother Vellies did not immediately respond to media requests for comment at the time of publication.