Scumbag AOC's 'Tax the Rich' scumbag dress designer Aurora James owes debt in multiple states

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://nypost.com/2021/09/18/aocs-tax-the-rich-dress-designer-aurora-
james-is-a-tax-deadbeat/

Designer Aurora James called her “Tax the Rich” dress for Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez a “powerful message” — but it’s not one she has taken to
heart.

The 37-year-old fashionista who made waves at the Met Gala with
Democratic-Socialist AOC last week is a notorious tax deadbeat with unpaid
debts dogging her in multiple states, records show.

Most of luxe-living James’ arrears center on Cultural Brokerage Agency, an
LLC she formed in 2011 to serve as the parent company of her fashion
brand, which today is known as Brother Vellies. It’s a favorite of people
like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Meghan Markle.

The company racked up three open tax warrants in New York state for
failing to withhold income taxes from employees’ paychecks totaling
$14,798, the state Department of Taxation and Finance told The Post. The
debts — which were incurred before the pandemic — stem from 2018 and 2019.
The company has been hit with 15 warrants in total since 2015.

The company got into a deeper hole with the feds. Between April 2018 and
April 2019, the Internal Revenue Service placed six federal liens on
Cultural Brokerage Agency totaling $103,220. The liens specifically cite
the company’s failure to remit employee payroll taxes.

The IRS declined to comment on their current status.

“Just because they take it out of your paycheck doesn’t mean they’re
sending it to the government,” David Cenedella, a Baruch College taxation
lecturer explained after reviewing the liens. “It’s certainly not
something you want. I would not say your average business out there has
this. Something went wrong.”

While James apparently has no problem stiffing the Taxman, she isn’t shy
about taking money from taxpayers — her company received in $41,666 in
pandemic relief aid.

Over the years Cultural Brokerage Agency has also faced multiple legal
challenges as a result of habitual nonpayment of worker benefits.

In October 2019 the state Worker’s Compensation Board slapped the company
with a $17,000 fine for not carrying worker’s-comp insurance between March
2017 and February 2018. The company currently owes $62,722 and no payments
have been received to date, a rep for the board told The Post. Workers’
comp is paid out when an employee is hurt at work and misses time.

Ex-staffers blasted the operation as a sweatshop that relied on legions of
unpaid interns working full-time jobs.

“I experienced a lot of harassment when I worked for her,” one former
contract employee told The Post. “Aurora would ask me to do things that
were not in anyone’s job description, like scheduling her gynecological
appointments. The work environment was so hostile that I was afraid to ask
for my check.” The employee was ultimately terminated.

An ex-intern called James “quite cold,” adding that “she never gives
recognition or acknowledgement to her team.”

James is also an alleged rent deadbeat, records show.

In August 2020, James’ landlord filed papers to evict Brother Vellies from
their location at 71 Franklin St. in Brooklyn, as well as demanding more
than $25,000 plus interest for staying beyond the end of her lease. The
case was settled.

She was sued by a previous landlord in February 2018 for more than $5,000
in unpaid rent at her shop’s old address at 209 West 38th Street in
Manhattan.

“Aurora, obviously we did not want it to come to this, but you never have
paid your rent in a timely manner,” wrote Matthew Mandell, a rep for her
Manhattan landlord in a frustrated March 2018 email. “We have been more
than patient.”

Though AOC proudly labeled James a “working class” designer as they
waltzed down the Met Gala red carpet, her lifestyle has been anything but.
As the pandemic raged across America, igniting a deep recession, James
scooped up a $1.6 million residence in Los Angeles in September 2020.

The Tudor-style home with cathedral ceilings, a master-bedroom fireplace
and backyard hot tub sits on 7,095 square feet in the posh Hollywood
Hills, according to RedFin.

True to form, the property is already listed as “delinquent” by the Los
Angeles County assessor’s office, which told The Post James owed $2,504 in
property taxes.

Though AOC was comped tickets to the annual ball for boldfacers, entry to
the famously exclusive Met Gala runs $35,000 a head. James attended the
bash with Benjamin Bronfman, a rumored boyfriend she’s frequently spotted
with. Bronfman, 39, is a scion of the powerful Bronfman family and its
distilling empire. He is worth an estimated $100 million.

Photos from the event show the pair smiling broadly with Ocasio-Cortez and
her boyfriend Riley Roberts.

James’ unpaid bills belie her champagne tastes. She frequently jets off to
exclusive locations, her Instagram richly decorated with photos from
Jamaica, Morocco, France, Indonesia, Mexico, Italy, the United Kingdom and
The Hamptons.

She also found money to make a $2,700 donation to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“It’s the height of hypocrisy when socialists attend a $30,000 per ticket
gala with a message of ‘tax the rich’ while wearing an overpriced dress by
a luxury designer who doesn’t pay taxes,” Republican Staten Island
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis told The Post. “What happened to everyone
paying their fair share?”

Both James and her reps did not respond to multiple requests for comment
from The Post.

James pushed progressive causes long before making headlines for dressing
America’s most famous socialist. After the death of George Floyd in May
2020, she created the 15 percent pledge, demanding that major companies
commit to buying 15% of their products from black-owned businesses. The
idea took off with major companies like Bloomingdale’s, Vogue, Sephora,
and Crate & Barrel, according to a 15 percent pledge website.

“This is the least you can do for us. We represent 15% of the population
and we need to represent 15% of your shelf space,” James said in an
Instagram post announcing the idea.

Ocasio-Cortez, who has made a career out of demanding better worker wages
and benefits, and taxing the rich to pay for her budget-busting federal
programs, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Additional reporting by Ben Blanchet



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