cnn-
The Federal Election Commission has fined Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and the private border wall company he was once linked to $30,000 for campaign finance violations during his failed 2020 Senate bid.
In a settlement approved by the Federal Election Commission last month, about a week after Kobach was elected, he admitted to illegally accepting a similar contribution from We Build the Wall, a Steve Bannon-related group that "led a fundraising campaign for .construction of "private" border wall, but caught in accusations of fraud.
CNN has reached out to lawyers for Kobach and We Build the Wall for comment.
In 2019, Kobach's campaign hired a We Build the Wall mailing list of 295,000 people for just $2,000, far less than the usual price.
The campaign was also accused of additional campaign finance violations related to We Build the Wall, but the FEC, composed of three Democrats and three Republicans, dismissed or evenly split those charges.
Kobach is an immigration hardliner and longtime claimant of false electoral claims who served as Kansas Secretary of State from 2011 to 2019 and has close ties to former President Donald Trump.
Kobach was elected Kansas attorney general in November, defeating Democrat Chris Mann 51% to 49%. His victory comes after two consecutive losses in the most recent election cycle: he lost the gubernatorial race in 2018 and the Republican nomination for the US Senate in 2020.
Previously, he served on We Build the Wall's board of directors and was the organization's general counsel.
Two men pleaded guilty in federal court and another was convicted of donor fraud with We Build the Wall. Bannon and the company now face charges in New York state. Bannon, who pleaded not guilty to state charges, was previously indicted in federal court but pardoned by then-President Trump at the end of his term.