The campaign of Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., was hit by two cyberattacks shortly before and after the November midterm elections, costing it nearly $700,000.
In a letter to Ryan Furman of the Senate Office of Public Records dated Dec. 8, which also was forwarded to the Federal Election Commission, Timothy Gottschalk, treasurer for Moran For Kansas, said the campaign was contacted by Astra Bank on Nov. 14 regarding two wire transfers to SCRP Media, which the campaign used to place ad buys for commercials. One on Oct. 25 was for $345,000 and another on Nov. 9, the day after the election, was for the same amount.
"Cybercriminals targeted the accounting firm employed by Moran For Kansas, and money was wired to fraudulent bank accounts," Tom Brandt, a spokesman for Moran's campaign, said, according to The Kansas City Star.
Gottschalk wrote the campaign reported the incidents to the Republic County Sheriff's Office. From there, the case was transferred to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and then to the FBI.
The campaign wrote it was notified by Astra Bank on Nov. 23 that $168,184.03 of the Nov. 9 wire transfer was recovered from Wells Fargo Bank.
"We are currently pursuing all avenues available to recover the money, and there is an ongoing investigation with the FBI," Brandt said, according to The Star. "The campaign also consulted with the FEC on how to transparently report the unauthorized expenditures."
Moran was reelected to a third term, defeating his Democratic opponent Mark Holland with 60.1% of the vote. According to the FEC, he spent more than $4.7 million on his campaign. Holland, who got 36.9% of the vote, spent more than $863,000.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.