Posted by Facebook in its efforts to curb the online dissemination of disinformation, reports shared in early March 2021 claim that financial disclosures show that rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat who has served since January 3, 2019, has a net worth of more than $ 1 million. According to her latest annual financial disclosure reports, which cover the two years before she was elected and her first year in office, the congresswoman, popularly known as AOC, was nowhere near a millionaire.
One report, which reads: ‘2 years ago AOC was broken when he was elected. This annual financial statement shows that she is now worth more than 1 million net worth. How does this happen ???, ”received more than 14,000 shares during the publication of this article (here). Other posts that make this claim can be found here and here.
As stated in a 2018 report by the Congressional Research Service, members of Congress, excluding the Speaker of the House and the majority and minority leaders, earn $ 174,000 a year. Ocasio-Cortez, who was elected in the 2018 midterm elections, has been serving as a representative for the 14th District in New York since January 3, 2019 (here). The congresswoman has therefore been earning this salary minus annual income tax for two years.
The congresswoman’s financial disclosure report for 2017-2018 was submitted and available by Ocasio-Cortez at the office on May 15, 2019.
At the time of filing, her assets included between $ 1,001 and $ 15,000 in a checking account, between $ 1,001 and $ 15,000 in a brokerage account, and between $ 1,001 and $ 15,000 invested in a 401K plan. In terms of earnings, the report reveals that she earned $ 3,588 in wages from the New York City restaurant where she worked as a server last year (here). She also earned $ 21,875 from her 2018 congressional campaign.
As for the obligations, the House member openly stated that she still pays debts from student loans (here). According to the report, she owes the U.S. Department of Education between $ 15,001 and $ 50,000 in federal student loan debt, which she incurred between 2007 and 2001 as an undergraduate student at Boston University (here).
The Ocasio-Cortez office also provided the congresswoman’s 2019 report on financial disclosure to Reuters, which was submitted in September 2020. Her assets included between $ 1,001 and $ 15,000 in a checking account, between $ 1 and $ 1,000 in a brokerage account and between $ 1,001 and $ 15,000 in her 401K plan.
Once again, she announced that in 2019 she owed between $ 15,001 and $ 50,000 in student loan debt.
Since 2019 was her first year as a member of Congress, Ocasio-Cortez earns no revenue as a server or from her campaign. However, she announced the gift of a $ 829.18 swear meal held on January 2, 2019, a day before she was sworn in in Congress.
When asked about the demands in these posts, the spokesperson who sent the report to Reuters for 2019 did not want to comment further.
Fox News investigated the topic of her earnings in February 2020 and reached similar findings (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. Financial disclosures do not show that representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a millionaire.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.