By Staff Reporter |
A new complaint filed this week alleges that Arizona’s governor, secretary of state, and attorney general may have participated in a straw donor scheme.
The complainant, San Tan Valley resident Gary DeBerge, has asked Arizona District Attorney Timothy Courchaine and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to look into what he says are “mysterious and unexplained” irregularities in the campaigns of Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, and Attorney General Kris Mayes.
A copy of the complaint obtained by AZ Free News alleges that recent filings by one of the campaigns reflect “repeatedly altered reported receipts by millions of dollars” due to alleged eliminations of prior reported contributions.
Elect Katie Hobbs, the governor’s reelection campaign account, issued 10 amended reports for the 2026 Quarter 2 report, several of which varied by millions of dollars.
Exempt small contributions amounting to less than $100 totaled more than $1.4 million in the original filing and the first amended report, dropped to $0 in the second and third amended reports, then rose to nearly $400,000 in subsequent amended reports.
Total receipts amounted to more than $2.6 million in the original filing, but jumped to $3.1 million in the first amended report, then dropped below $1.7 million in the second amended report, then rose again to more than $2.2 million in the third amended report, and then rose again, back to more than $2.6 million in subsequent amended reports.
Donations under $100 are considered eligible for aggregate rather than individual reporting.
| Elect Katie Hobbs 2026 Quarter 2 Reported Contributions | |||
| Total Receipts | Small Contributions | Cash Balance | |
| Original Filing (ID: 385354) | $2,642,060 | $1,426,552 | $2,378,206 |
| First Amended Filing (ID: 408467) | $3,105,230 | $1,426,552 | $2,841,375 |
| Second Amended Filing (ID: 409125) | $1,678,677 | $0 | $1,414,823 |
| Third Amended Filing (ID: 419576) | $2,257,740 | $0 | $1,993,885 |
| Fourth Amended Filing (ID: 421346) | $2,652,525 | $394,785 | $2,388,670 |
| Fifth Amended Filing (ID: 421347) | $2,649,025 | $394,785 | $2,385,170 |
| Sixth Amended Filing (ID: 421760) | $2,649,020 | $394,785 | $2,385,165 |
| Seventh Amended Filing (ID: 421761) | $2,648,520 | $394,785 | $2,384,665 |
| Eighth Amended Filing (ID: 421762) | $2,648,267 | $394,785 | $2,384,412 |
| Ninth Amended Filing (ID: 421763) | $2,648,259 | $394,784 | $2,384,404 |
| Tenth Amended Filing (ID: 421765) | $2,648,276 | $394,802 | $2,384,421 |
The complaint petitioned investigators to determine whether the millions moved around in amended filings reflected “a calculated attempt to obscure the true source and disposition” of the funds.
As noted by the complaint, Hobbs’ campaign reported much smaller totals of exempt small contributions throughout 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. Exempt small contributions across five quarters amounted to $600,000 in total. Then, in the second quarter of this year, the campaign reported a surge in exempt small contributions that amounted to more than double what the campaign pulled for an entire year and a quarter.
“Elect Katie Hobbs has reported approximately $1.4 million in exempt contributions and then later reported that those same contributions never existed,” stated the complaint. “This should immediately raise questions regarding the accuracy of one, if not all, of the recent filings made by this committee.”
The Trump administration and Republican leaders in Congress have initiated investigatory efforts into straw donor schemes by online fundraising platforms.
An example of this was illustrated prominently in the media earlier this year, when investigative reporters discovered that ActBlue, the primary fundraising platform for Democrats, allegedly misattributed around $100,000 in donations across thousands of individual political contributions over five years to one Elizabeth Waffle, an 88-year-old woman in Michigan living in a trailer with limited income. ActBlue allegedly misattributed more than 13,000 donations that occurred once or multiple times on a daily basis.
The complaint also questioned the number of contributors listed as “not employed” across the three campaigns’ 2026 filings to date.
Below are the total number of instances in which individual contributors were listed as “not employed” for the three report filings due so far this year and the four report filings made in 2025. These instances exclude retirees and may include individuals who contributed more than once.
| Candidate | “Not Employed” or “Unemployed” in 2026 Filings | “Not Employed” or “Unemployed” in 2025 Filings |
| Katie Hobbs | 46,335 | 26,643 |
| Andy Biggs | 26 | 21 |
| Kris Mayes | 17,530 | 13,162 |
| Warren Petersen | 0 | 0 |
| Adrian Fontes | 12,640 | 3,294 |
| Alexander Kolodin | 2 | 1 |
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