NEW: Before Yesli Vega Decried “Reckless Spending,” She Filed for Bankruptcy

New reporting from Prince William Times revealed that while Yesli Vega (VA-07) has been decrying “reckless spending” and touting fiscal responsibility on the campaign trail, she has not disclosed that she filed for bankruptcy herself to discharge nearly $100,000 in debt.

Prince William Times points out that Vega’s latest ad talks about how to budget your money and that you should “save more than you spend.” But “According to the voluntary petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Vega and her husband filed, the Vegas reported owing creditors a total of $96,662[.]”

The reporting also highlights the hypocrisy of Vega criticizing student loan forgiveness despite defaulting on $46,000 of her own unpaid student loans. “It’s unfair to the millions of us that paid off our debt or skipped college to get an early jump into the workforce,” Vega said, failing to mention that she did not pay her $46,000 in student loans.

Vega “did not respond to three emails sent over a five-week period seeking comment and context about her bankruptcy filing.”

Read more below:

Prince William Times: Before Vega decried ‘reckless’ spending, she had $96K in student loans, debts cleared in personal bankruptcy
By Cher Muzyk and Jill Palermo
October 17, 2022

• “Supervisor Yesli Vega, the Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in Virginia’s 7th District, has been critical of President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and decries ‘reckless’ government spending in a recent TV ad.”
• “Yet Vega and her husband filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009 and had more than $96,000 in debts discharged in the proceeding, including more than $46,000 in student loans, according to court records.”
• “Vega, 37, and her husband, Rene Vega, were living in Fort Washington, Maryland, when they filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland, which has not been previously disclosed.”
• “Vega and her campaign staff did not respond to three emails sent over a five-week period seeking comment and context about her bankruptcy filing.”
• “The Prince William Times asked Vega to comment on the reasons that led to her bankruptcy and to explain her view on defaulted loans discharged through bankruptcy proceedings versus Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.”
• “In Vega’s 30-second ad regarding government spending, she credits her father, Abel Ventura, an immigrant from El Salvador, with teaching her how to budget her money. Ventura advises in Spanish, ‘Save more than you spend.’ Vega goes on to accuse Biden, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Spanberger, of ‘driving up inflation’ and ‘hurting Virginia families’ as a result of their ‘reckless spending.’”
• “Vega doesn’t give specifics about what spending she considers reckless and doesn’t elaborate on her social media. But she says that she has a plan ‘to eliminate wasteful spending and cut taxes’ in Congress if elected. According to the voluntary petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Vega and her husband filed, the Vegas reported owing creditors a total of $96,662[.]”
• “Vega has been outspoken about her opposition to the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan. Under the plan, most people with federal student debt will be eligible to apply for up to $10,000 of loan forgiveness and as much as $20,000 if they received a Pell Grant, which is available to low-income undergraduate students.”
• “Soon after the student loan forgiveness plan was rolled out, on Sept. 1, Vega tweeted, ‘Biden’s plan to ‘forgive’ student loans for a select few, is nothing but an election year campaign trick funded by you, the taxpayers. It’s unfair to the millions of us that paid off our debt or skipped college to get an early jump into the workforce.’”