Accused serial sex pest Eric Swalwell appears to have used campaign funds to cover a pricey stay at a swanky Times Square hotel where he allegedly raped a former staffer, according to financial disclosures viewed by The Post.
The campaign shelled out two separate payments of $1,095.52 on Feb. 26, 2024, for rooms at the Times Square Edition, a five-star boutique hotel just a 10-minute walk from the Ziegfeld Ballroom, where Swalwell and his alleged victim attended an awards show gala for the Brady Campaign, an anti-gun violence nonprofit.
The disbursements for the hotel stay are dated nearly two months before the April 25 gala, when the alleged rape occurred. But campaign finance disclosure filings record the date a candidate or staffer was seeking reimbursement for travel expenses — not necessarily the date of the stay at a hotel.
Given the packed travel schedules of elected officials, it’s not unusual for reservations to be booked weeks or even months in advance.
After the gala, Swalwell and the former staffer, who was 25 at the time, went out drinking to the point the woman said she was too intoxicated to remember leaving the last bar they visited, CNN reported.
Here’s the latest on the allegations against Rep. Eric Swalwell
The next thing she knew, she was in Swalwell’s hotel room bed with him “having sex with her,” and allegedly not heeding her protestations, including attempts to push him off her.
When she woke up, she told the outlet she had vaginal bleeding and bruising on her body from the alleged encounter.
The former staffer, who was not working for Swalwell at the time, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the alleged rape happened at the Times Square Edition.
The luxury hotel on Seventh Avenue — where rooms run more than $1,000 a night — was a go-to destination for Swalwell during New York jaunts. His campaign racked up a whopping $14,476.11 in charges for rooms and incidentals at the hotel between January 2023 and February 2024, the data shows.
Four other women have so far come forward to accuse Swalwell of sexual misconduct, and the Manhattan DA’s office is investigating the alleged 2024 incident in Midtown.
Taxpayers also footed the bill for Swalwell’s stay at the Montrose West Hollywood hotel, where the disgraced Democrat allegedly raped former model Lonna Drewes in July 2018, according to the filings.
Swalwell, a married dad of three, has denied the mounting allegations against him, but resigned his congressional seat and suspended his campaign for California governor.
His campaign spending has come under scrutiny in the wake of the allegations, including allegedly violating immigration and employment law to keep his Brazilian illegal immigrant nanny in the country and paying her under the table, according to a pair of recently filed complaints.
