U.S. Representative Troy Nels’ campaign lost $150,000 in electronic communications fraud.

Austin, Texas – U.S. Representative. Troy NelsMore than $150,000 was stolen from the campaign account last year through an “unauthorized bank transfer”, according to new reports.

The situation has come to the attention of the Federal Election Commission, which is asking for “additional clarification information” from the Richmond Republican’s campaign. The campaign first disclosed the “unauthorized payment” dated July 7 in the FEC’s Q3 2022 report. According to the same report, the campaign was able to recover most of the funds later in the period.

“There was an unauthorized bank transfer initiated with fraudulent funds in our campaign account,” Nehls spokesperson Taylor Halsey said in an email Monday. “We cannot comment further as all information has been turned over to the FBI for criminal investigation.”

RawStory first described the sequence of events in an article published on Monday.

Nels is in his second term, representing the 22nd congressional district in the Houston area, which was a national battleground in 2020 but has since been changed to be Republican-friendly. Former Fort Bend County Sheriff, Nels is an enthusiastic supporter of former President Donald Trump — one of the few Republicans in the Texas delegation who have already backed Trump’s 2024 return bid.

The July 7 payment was $157,626 and was sent to a company called “Misty J Productions”. The entity is virtually unknown – FEC records show that no other campaign has dealt with it. The Nehls campaign did not say in a statement how the organization received the money or whether any of the campaign staff knew of the transfer when it happened.

The Nehls campaign recovered $137,626 from Misty J Productions through two receipts it reported from the organization later in the third quarter, one on July 20 and the other on September 30.

On January 25 of this year, the FEC asked Nels’ campaign for more information about both the “unauthorized payment” and the money returned.

“While the Commission may take further legal action regarding this apparent misuse of Committee funds, any additional clarifying information you may provide will be taken into account,” Ryan Fuhrman, Senior Campaign Finance Analyst and Reviewer, said in a letter.

Nels is far from the only congressman to have faced such theft of campaign funds in recent times. In one larger example, US Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, claimed that cybercriminals stole almost $700,000 from his campaign last year. The FBI is investigating.

For a politician like Nels, over $150,000 is a lot of campaign money. In the same Q3 report in which Nels disclosed the “unauthorized payment”, he raised approximately $260,000, not including refunded money from Misty J Productions.

This story comes from our partners KHOU 11 News at Texas Tribunenon-profit, non-partisan media organization that informs and engages with Texans about public policy, politics, government, and state issues.