The fallout from Kanye West’s failed Presidential campaign simply refuses to settle. Not only was it cited as a big potential reason behind his divorce from Kim Kardashian but now, it seems his marriage to her is the reason behind some of his paperwork being rejected by federal campaign overseers. According to Business Insider, the Office of Government Ethics has rejected Kanye’s financial disclosure forms, as Kanye did not include Kim’s income and assets on the forms, citing a rare exemption in state law that officials found suspicious.
The law, which allows candidates to forego disclosing a spouse’s income if they have no knowledge of the income stream and do not expect to derive financial benefit from it, could hardly apply to Kanye, according to an insider at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Jordan Libowitz, CREW’s communications director, explained, It’s not just that he did not report it, but that he used an exemption, and a fairly rare one, to reporting. It said among things, that he had no knowledge of what her assets were or where her income came from. And that seems a little tough to believe.”
Remember, Forbes regularly reports on the entire Kardashian family’s financial successes often, including when both Kanye and Kim officially surpassed the billionaire mark (separately). Although the two did have a prenuptial agreement, which is making their divorce easier, apparently, government officials deemed it too much of a stretch to think that Kim’s income wasn’t at least partially tied to Kanye’s (to the point that Kanye’s $53 million debt turnaround in 2016 was subject to speculation that he received a “bailout” of sorts from Kim).
While the discrepancy is unlikely to result in prosecution, Kanye’s campaign was already fraught with numerous ethics and regulatory issues that make it another red flag for investigators looking into his campaign. As of now, it looks like he did spend his own money funding it — around $3 million just collecting signatures and over $6 million overall — but it looks like his last-minute, haphazard practices have continued causing him headaches long after his embarassing loss.
