Mamdani Took in $13K in Illegal Foreign Donations

Only US citizens or permanent legal residents are allowed to contribute to political campaigns and political action committees under federal, state and city law, and candidates are expected to return any of the illegal donations. Violators who knowingly accept foreign donations could face hefty fines and imprisonment.

Mamdani’s campaign has brought in $4 million in private donations, scored another $12.7 million in public matching funds, and with less than a month to go before election day, has nearly $6.1 million in hand.

Tech professionals, doctors, university professors, students and retired teachers made up the bulk of the foreign contributions, with some pledging as little as $1 to the campaign of the Democratic socialist, and as much as $2,100, records showed.

Among the biggest donors was James Furlaud, an environmental scientist at Australia’s University of Tasmania, who pledged $2,100 to the campaign. Furlaud studies the effects of climate change on forests and how it could lead to fires, according to his published academic work.

Ada Diaz Ahmed, who is described as a Dubai-based investor, donated $2,100 to the campaign in September, records show.

Jun-Dai Bates Kobashigawa, a software developer who lives in Montreal, Canada, donated $250 to the campaign in July. Kobashigawa, who works for GoDaddy, grew up in San Francisco, and attended Bard College in Dutchess County.

Ugur Macit, who lives in the town of Muhlheim am Main in Germany, also donated $250 to the Mamdani campaign in August. Macit is a software engineer who studied computer science at the University of Dusseldorf, according to public records.

Ahmed Enbya, a physician in Calgary, Canada, donated $100 to the campaign in September, filings show.

Nupur Amin Marquardt, a US citizen who works as a consultant in Hamburg, Germany, donated $50 to Mamdani’s campaign in August. As a US citizen, her donation is permitted, according to the Federal Election Commission’s rules.

Even though she has no connection to New York City, she felt inspired to support the candidate, Marquardt said.

Most of the contributions to the socialist’s campaign have come from outside New York City, city filings revealed last month. The frontrunner took in a total of $1.05 million over the last several weeks — more than double the $507,000 raised by Cuomo.