FEC audit found Rep. Randy Weber's campaign committee misstated its finances, received $51,212 in excessive contributions and missed 48-hour notices, 2019-2020; the committee corrected its reports, and FEC records show a separate $8,470 administrative fine over its 2020 48-hour notices, paid in full

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The Federal Election Commission audited Weber for Congress, Rep. Randy Weber's principal campaign committee, for Jan. 1, 2019 through Dec. 31, 2020. The Commission voted 6-0 on Aug. 18, 2022 to approve the Proposed Final Audit Report, and the Final Audit Report of the Commission is listed on the FEC's audit page as Sept. 1, 2022. It approved three findings: the committee misstated its cash on hand for 2019 and 2020 (understating ending 2019 cash on hand by $74,836 and ending 2020 cash on hand by $108,650) and overstated 2020 disbursements by $27,632; it received excessive contributions from individuals totaling $51,212 and resolved them, in the Commission's words, untimely; and it failed to file or untimely filed 48-hour notices for 34 contributions totaling $71,300. The committee corrected the public record by filing Forms 99 and amending a report. Through its counsel, the committee told the auditors it had inadvertently misreported transactions and generally did not dispute that it inadvertently did not file 48-hour notices; it provided no further comment on the draft final report and did not request an audit hearing. The audit report states the Commission may initiate enforcement later and imposes no penalty itself. Separately, the FEC's administrative fine record AF 4397 shows an $8,470 civil penalty assessed against Weber for Congress on Oct. 14, 2022 over its 2020 48-hour notification reporting, upheld Dec. 7, 2022 and marked paid in full; the sources reviewed do not say whether those are the same 48-hour notices the audit covered. Weber told Forbes in Oct. 2022 that the campaign's compliance firm had failed to reconcile accounts and respond to the FEC's requests for information, that the campaign fired the firm and hired a new compliance team, and that his wife, listed as an FEC contact for the campaign, had forwarded the FEC's emails to the firm without reading them.

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