When Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) was first elected in 2020, many conservatives saw him as the future of the GOP. A young, telegenic candidate with an inspiring story, Cawthorn seemed to have loads of potential.
But controversy has followed Cawthorn wherever he’s gone. He dealt with sexual misconduct allegations during his campaign, and he claimed that he has been invited to Congressional orgies and witnessed drug use among Congressional staff.
In March, a North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper pulled over the young congressman for driving erratically and discovered that Cawthorn was also driving on a suspended license. He’s due in court in May and could face jail time.
Just last week, Politico released photos of Cawthorn wearing lingerie and cavorting with two young women. Cawthorn brushed the images off as “goofy vacation photos during a game on a cruise.”
You’d think all of those incidents would be enough to get Cawthorn to stick to the straight-and-narrow. Well, you’d be wrong.
On Tuesday, the TSA confiscated a gun belonging to the congressman that he was allegedly trying to carry onto a flight out of Charlotte, N.C. The problem is, that incident wasn’t his first run-in with the TSA.
“This would be the second time Cawthorn has tried to bring a gun past security, the first being at the Asheville Regional Airport in February 2021,” reports the Washington Examiner. “He did not face any charges in that instance, though the offense could carry up to a $10,000 fine for a loaded weapon and a criminal referral.”
Related: For Madison Cawthorn, ‘Tomorrow Is Another Day’
Additionally, Cawthorn may be in trouble for insider trading relating to a cryptocurrency scheme he allegedly became involved with at the end of 2021, according to another report by the Washington Examiner.
“On Dec. 29, the beleaguered North Carolina congressman posed at a party with James Koutoulas, a hedge fund manager and the ringleader of the Let’s Go Brandon cryptocurrency, a meme coin set up in the wake of the chant mocking President Joe Biden,” writes investigative reporter Andrew Kerr.
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NASCAR driver Brandon Brown — the unwitting originator of the “Let’s Go Brandon” meme — announced the next day that LGBCoin would sponsor his car for the 2022 season, causing a 75% jump in the value of the crypto. Koutoulas was involved in the announcement, prompting speculation that Cawthorn had advanced and private knowledge of the announcement that was coming.
With all apologies to generations of infomercial pitchmen … but wait, there’s more.
“Immediately following Brown’s Dec. 30 announcement, the value of all LGBCoin in circulation eclipsed $570 million,” Kerr writes. “By the end of January, the market cap of the meme coin dropped to $0.”
“Koutoulas said in a Feb. 20 livestream that two factors led to LGBCoin’s precipitous decline: First, NASCAR rejected LGBCoin’s sponsorship deal with Brown on Jan. 4, and then later that month, unidentified insiders that owned an outsize share of the coin dumped all their holdings at once, causing the coin’s market value to evaporate,” Kerr continues.
Koutoulas relaunched the coin shortly thereafter, and Cawthorn has made multiple appearances with him promoting the cryptocurrency. Interestingly enough, Cawthorn hasn’t filed any disclosures that he owns any LGBCoin, even though as a member of Congress, he is required to do so by law.
All of these actions raise speculation as to whether Cawthorn had inside knowledge of what was going on with LGBCoin and if he tried to cover it up.
Does Madison Cawthorn think he’s above the law, or is he just naïve? We may never really know, but it’s up to the voters of North Carolina’s 11th district to decide if he’s fit to continue serving.
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