A nonpartisan ethics watchdog yesterday called for an “immediate investigation and enforcement action” against mega-donor Louis DeJoy, his company, and Senator Thom Tillis after an investigation last week uncovered how Senator Tillis was “one of the biggest beneficiaries” of an alleged corrupt straw donor scheme. The complaint argues that Senator Tillis “knowingly accepted a contribution made by one person in the name of another” and “failed to report the identities of the true source of contributions and the identities of each conduit for the contributions.”

The Washington Post reported yesterday that Senator Tillis, an “ally” of DeJoy, called the investigation into the scheme a “witch hunt” and said that an investigation will “clear Louis DeJoy’s name.” Tillis’ comments were his “first known public reference” to the corrupt scheme, after the investigation found that he was “one of the biggest beneficiaries of donations” after his campaign committees collected nearly $300,000 from people at the company in 2014.

“Senator Tillis is now facing calls for federal investigations into his ties to an allegedly corrupt straw donor scheme,” NCDP spokesperson Robert Howard said. “Yet rather than denounce his mega-donor and his allegedly corrupt scheme, Tillis is defending him and labeling an investigation into him a ‘witch hunt.’ Senator Tillis is once again standing up for his corporate donors instead of North Carolina families because that’s who Senator Tillis looks out for in Washington.”