We Now See Why Madison Gesiotto Gilbert Didn’t Want to File Her Financial Disclosure
September 30, 2022
Columbus, OH — Madison Gesiotto Gilbert FINALLY filed her financial disclosure this week after months of breaking campaign finance laws. And now that she has, it’s easy to see why she waited so long. Despite her claims that she knows ‘first-hand’ how ‘an unfair tax code hurts working families,’ the Ohio Capital Journal reports that Madison and her husband ‘hold numerous investments in municipal bonds and treasuries, both of which generally offer tax-free income.’ And while Madison presents herself as a ‘small business owner’ the OCJ report shows it’s ‘unclear’ who actually owns the golf course – or who took out the PPP loan the company received last year after Madison has been critical of COVID relief packages that made these loans possible.
“Turns out the candidate who bought three different houses to run for Congress isn’t exactly living up to her campaign trail rhetoric about feeling the pain of the working class. From her tax-free income to her dad’s purchase of her ‘small business,’ it’s clear Millionaire Madison’s talking points ain’t living in reality. She’s proved time and time again that she’ll do or say anything to get herself elected,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.
“The disclosure itself is a scanned, and often illegible, document. It appears, though, that that the couple hold numerous investments in municipal bonds and treasuries, both of which generally offer tax-free income. Their most substantial holdings are a handful of exchange traded index funds and an investment property. The report lists each of these assets as worth at least half a million dollars,” writes Nick Evans for the Ohio Capital Journal.
Read more from the Ohio Capital Journal HERE and below:
- Republican congressional candidate Madison Gesiotto Gilbert filed her required financial disclosure this week — more than six weeks after The Ohio Capital Journal first reported it was missing.
- Federal law requires office holders, candidates and even certain staffers to disclose details about their finances in order to serve. For candidates those requirements kick in once they’ve raised $5,000 and no later than May.
- Madison Gesiotto Gilbert and her husband Marcus Gilbert made most of their money in the past two years through passive income. Financial disclosures group investments in buckets, so the reported amounts are inexact.
- Last year the couple cleared $50,000 in interest and dividends but could’ve made as much as $182,000. They supplemented that with capital gains of anywhere from $17,800 to $59,000. The biggest share of those gains came from selling bitcoin worth between $15,000 and $50,000.
- This year the couple didn’t realize any capital gains, but their income from interest and dividends grew enough to leave then in a similar financial position. According to the report they brought in between $66,000 and $220,000 in interest and dividends alone this year.
- The disclosure itself is a scanned, and often illegible, document. It appears, though, that that the couple hold numerous investments in municipal bonds and treasuries, both of which generally offer tax-free income. Their most substantial holdings are a handful of exchange traded index funds and an investment property. The report lists each of these assets as worth at least half a million dollars.
- Madison is an attorney but her income from legal work is hazy. Under earned income, she discloses earning $24,000 last year as a contributor to conservative media outlet, The First. She lists her legal services under a separate section covering any compensation of more than $5,000.
- Gilbert’s describes herself as a small business owner and points to Seven Hills golf course. In an interview with Spectrum News, she described picking up shifts tending bar when they had trouble hiring.
- Past news reports suggested her father purchased the course and the disclosure lists her corporate position as a member of Seven Hills Country Club, LLC. The disclosure describes Seven Hills Country Club, LLC as an asset worth $250,000-$500,000 that produced no income in the past two years. But whether Madison and Marcus own the golf course outright or with other family members is unclear.
- While the Gilberts are easily millionaires (according to overthecap.com Marcus earned north of $32 million in his ten-year career in the NFL) Madison may be eligible to have some of her student debt canceled. Because their income over the past two years appears to come primarily from investment proceeds, it’s conceivable they could come in below the $250,000 filing jointly.
- Gilbert’s campaign did not respond to an interview request for this story.
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