The Federal Elections Commission has fined Vice President Joe Biden $219,000 for accepting illegal donations and failing to disclose payments and debts.
According to an FEC audit, Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign didn’t return $106,000 in campaign donations that went over the individual limit of $2,300. There were also $85,000 in “stale checks” — checks the campaign wrote to vendors and contributors which were never cashed.
Biden also apparently paid a charter plane service $7,911 for a flight from New Hampshire to Iowa. The flight should have cost $34,800, according to the FEC, meaning Biden received nearly a $27,000 contribution from the charter service.
Biden’s spokeswoman said the illegal contributions accounted for less than 1 percent of the $12 million Biden raised. She said his campaign will pay the fine.
The FEC audit was a condition of Biden accepting public campaign funding.
