Republican Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel posted a tweet over the weekend engaging in the identity politics around values like self-reliance and family.
We’ll have to take his word on his meat, gun, and baby, but we can check his financial holdings, and according to his candidate financial disclosure filed with the Senate on August 16, he doesn’t hold any Bitcoin. It’s possible that he bought Bitcoin after filing.
If Mandel had Bitcoin when filing and knowingly did not disclose it, he could be subject to a civil penalty of up to $50,000 or a criminal penalty for falsifying or concealing a material fact in a statement to the government, up to 5 years in prison, or both.
Having his Bitcoin in cold storage would not exempt him from disclosing it. It simply means his keys for accessing and transacting with it are written down on a piece of paper or on a device like a Ledger or Trezor wallet.
Sludge emailed the campaign for an explanation but did not hear back.
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