Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been accused of breaking campaign funding rules by spending nearly $19,000 (£14,200) on a psychiatrist who advocates ketamine therapy.
The prominent Democrat politician is said to have hired Dr Brian Boyle, the chief psychiatrist at a mental health clinic that focuses on “cutting-edge” therapies popular with Hollywood and Wall Street figures.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show her campaign paid the psychiatrist $18,725 in three instalments between March and October 2025 for “leadership training and consulting”, according to the New York Post.
The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a conservative non-profit group that monitors public officials, filed a joint complaint on Friday with the FEC, the government spending watchdog, to demand an investigation.
“There is reason to believe that AOC’s use of campaign funds to pay for a psychiatrist who has no experience in ‘leadership training’ was not for a ‘bona fide campaign or political purpose,’ but rather for personal psychiatric therapy for AOC or her campaign staff,” Paul Kamenar, the group’s counsel, wrote in the complaint.
The NLPC also asked the Office of Congressional Conduct to refer the matter to the House ethics committee, which can issue subpoenas to witnesses and impose disciplinary action against politicians.
Spending ‘appears to violate ethics rules’
Ms Ocasio-Cortez has previously discussed her mental health and claimed to have attended therapy following the Capitol riots on Jan 6 2021, but it is unclear what the sessions consisted of.
Dr Boyle, who holds a degree from Harvard, describes himself as an “interventional psychiatrist” and specialises in unorthodox methods for treatment such as ketamine infusion therapy.
It involves administering low doses of the drug, a horse tranquilliser, to treat depression, anxiety, PTSD and chronic pain.
Matthew Perry, the Friends actor, died aged 54 from “acute effects” of the drug in 2023.