U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, listed for the first time on his financial disclosure a 2022 loan worth between $500,001 to $1 million. (Photo: John Partipilo)
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles acknowledged a previously undisclosed six-figure loan almost 10 months after news reports revealed its existence.
On his 2023 U.S. House financial disclosure form, filed on Sept. 13, Ogles listed for the first time a loan worth between $500,001 to $1 million from FirstBank in September of 2022.
The one-term congressman failed to disclose this on previous forms, a fact noted by Nashville NewsChannel 5 in November 2023, when it first reported on the loan.
The missing loan was part of a complaint by the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog organization, which alleged that Ogles had nearly $1 million in financial discrepancies between his House disclosure form and campaign finance reports.
Campaign finance discrepancies have plagued Ogles since he launched his bid for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in April 2022.
Ogles told the public in a news release during the start of the campaign that he raised $450,000, but in reality, Ogles raised around $250,000 and claimed to loan his campaign $320,000.
His claim of an early cash haul and his promise to use personal funds helped him secure support from conservatives on his way to winning a crowded 2022 Republican primary.
In May 2024, he amended campaign finance reports for the prior two years, stating that he had only loaned $20,000 to his campaign.
Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles’ campaign finance reports still don’t add up
Following the filing of his amended disclosures, Ogles said the additional $300,000 was in a joint account he shared with his wife. He claimed he only learned after the fact that transferring joint account funds for personal campaign use wasn’t allowed and said his campaign never used the cash.
Ogles has since made various other adjustments to his campaign finance reports, drawing letters from the Federal Election Commission as recently as July.
The financial disclosure forms, which are filed annually with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, differ from the campaign finance reports filed with the FEC.
Ogles received an extension to file disclosure forms on Aug. 13, and if he hadn’t filed it by Sept. 13, he would have owed a $200 late filing fee, according to the Clerk’s office.
The 2023 form also shows that Ogles has an investment property in Columbia worth between $500,001 to $1 million, earning him $5,001 to $15,000 a year in income and that his 401k from work as a lobbyist with Americans for Prosperity has decreased from $100,001-$250,000 to $15,001-$50,000.
Following Ogles’ Republican primary win in August, FBI agents searched his property and seized his phone as part of a fraud investigation.