AOC’s campaign pours massive cash into luxury Puerto Rico hotels, pricey catering and Bad Bunny venue rental

AOC criticized gentrification during a Puerto Rico visit in August even as recent campaign docs show she stayed at upscale hotels, ate pricey food and went to a Bad Bunny concert.

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FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's, D-N.Y., campaign spent nearly $50,000 in Puerto Rico between late June and September on luxury hotels, pricey meals and $23,000 on a "venue rental" at the same San Juan arena where she was spotted dancing in a suite at a Bad Bunny concert during an August trip to the U.S. territory.
Videos that emerged on social media from the August trip show AOC visiting a housing development to rail against gentrification while other footage from social media showed her dancing in what appears to be box seats at a Bad Bunny concert on Aug. 10 alongside Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y. Between August and September, Bad Bunny held a 31-show "Residency" tour at the popular "El Choli" Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, which was attended by a slew of celebrities like LeBron James, Iggy Azalea, Penelope Cruz and Austin Butler, among others.
Meanwhile, a campaign finance report from the third quarter, which records campaign expenses for members of Congress between July 1 and Sept. 30, shows that AOC's campaign spent over $15,000 at two luxury hotels in San Juan, where Bad Bunny was holding his "Residency" tour. The campaign also spent over $10,500 on meals and catering services, the filings show.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings for Q3 show expenditures from the congresswoman's principal campaign committee on two luxury hotels in San Juan, the Hotel Palacio Provincial and Hotel El Convento. On July 28, AOC's campaign forked over $680.52 to Hotel Palacio Provincial, followed by subsequent payments to the hotel on Aug. 29, for $1,507.26, and Sept. 29, for $9,440.79. A $3,861.20 payment also went to Hotel El Convento on Aug. 25, which owns the Hotel Palacio Provincial property as well. In total, AOC's Q3 filings show she spent $15,489.77 on lodging alone in Puerto Rico.
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The same filings show AOC's campaign spent $10,743.13 on "catering" and "meals" in Puerto Rico. The payments were dated across two separate days, Aug. 25 and Sept. 29, and included high-end restaurants in San Juan, such as Cocina Abierta, Cocina al Fondo and Verde Mesa.
In two separate payments on June 24 and Aug. 25, AOC's campaign also spent more than $23,000 on "Venue Rental" at the Coliseo De Puerto Rico, which is where Bad Bunny held multiple concerts as part of his "Residency" tour, including on Aug. 10, the day that AOC attended his concert. Fox News Digital could not confirm whether the payments were for multiple visits or whether a down payment was made and the final payment was paid later by the campaign.
In response to this article, Ocasio-Cortez's campaign manager, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, told Fox News Digital that AOC "regularly travels to Puerto Rico to support local causes and host events that require both staff and security."
"She is deeply proud of her investment in grassroots organizing and will continue to be active in advocating for both people on the island and the millions of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora," Hidalgo-Wohlleben said.
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Ocasio-Cortez's campaign didn't just drop thousands on luxury hotels and high-end food in Puerto Rico. AOC also continued racking up multi-thousand dollar hotel stays at "boutique" luxury hotels and high-end food vendors stateside during the third quarter filing period as well, including from sellers that were based along the "Fighting Oligarchy" tour she participated in with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., earlier this year.
She dropped nearly $5,000 at the Hotel Vermont in Burlington, which followed an April visit that racked up over $1,600, according to the congresswoman's second quarter filings.
Her campaign also spent almost $2,000 for a stay at an "upscale boutique hotel near Central Park," called the Thompson Central Park hotel.
The Arlo Williamsburg, a Brooklyn high-rise hotel with a rooftop pool and bar, was also listed in her most recent FEC report, which revealed she dropped nearly $3,000 on her stay there.
AOC's most recent FEC filing also reveals she racked up thousands of dollars in high-end restaurants, including a $6,300 bill at a fancy restaurant in D.C. called Ama, while her campaign also spent $4,500 on ice cream from Mr. Ding-a-ling Ice Cream located in Latham, New York.
The campaign spent $4,400 on catering from D.C.-area executive chef Caleb Jang.
Other high-end restaurants the campaign ate at stateside during Q3 include El Secreto De Rosita in D.C., Hen of the Wood in Vermont, Central Park Boathouse and Mottley Kitchen in the Bronx. Bills for these dinners ranged from a few hundred dollars to a couple of thousand dollars, totaling over $7,000.