Royce White, a former college basketball star for Iowa State, was the 16th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets.
However, he never played a game for the Rockets and only appeared in three NBA games, all with the Sacramento Kings, due in part to his well-documented fear of flying.
Currently, White is playing in the Big3 league and has experienced a failed political career. Recently, he has come under scrutiny for misusing campaign funds. According to The Daily Beast, White was caught spending thousands of dollars in campaign funds at strip clubs and on luxury items.
The report highlights one particularly egregious expense: “At five in the morning, one week after Republican Royce White lost his 2022 Minnesota congressional primary, his campaign shelled out more than $1,200 in donor funds to a vendor 1,800 miles away not typically associated with political expenses—an all-nude strip club in Miami, Florida, called ‘Gold Rush Cabaret.’”
This expense is just one of many questionable transactions identified from White’s 2022 Federal Election Commission filings. Several campaign finance experts have deemed some of these expenses as potentially illegal.
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White, once seen as a promising NBA talent, now faces the possibility of legal consequences for his campaign spending practices. He spends much of his time these days as a vocal presence on social media, particularly Twitter, where he often engages in contentious debates.
Despite the allegations, White maintains his innocence regarding the campaign finance issues. “If the FEC wants to fine us, that’s completely fine; there are much bigger scams with political campaigns,” he told The Daily Beast.
However, campaign finance law expert Brendan Fischer has indicated that White could be in serious legal trouble. “This looks a lot like the kind of thing that people go to jail for,” Fischer said.
White’s campaign spending included thousands of dollars at various strip clubs, as well as purchases of designer clothes and shoes. Notably, several of these purchases were made after he had already lost the election.
While White continues to assert that all his expenditures were legitimate, the mounting evidence suggests he may face significant legal challenges ahead. His story serves as a cautionary tale of how a promising sports career and subsequent political aspirations can be derailed by poor decisions and alleged misconduct.
