Congressional Candidate Monique DeSpain Issues Statement on the Expansion of a Federal Investigation into $500k BOLI Grant to La Mota Linked Nonprofit Under Rival Val Hoyle’s Leadership

2/15/2024

Eugene, OR. – Oregon Fourth Congressional District Candidate Monique DeSpain applauded news that Federal Investigators have expanded their current investigation into La Mota and ex-Secretary of State Shemia Fagan to include Congresswoman Val Hoyle’s $500,000 grant to La Mota’s non-profit while leading BOLI. This news follows DeSpain’s January 24th press conference launching WhatsValHiding.com and her letter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Natalie K. Wight, calling on Ms. Wight to expand her investigation to include Hoyle and her activities.

“Today, it was revealed that federal investigators have expanded their investigation to include Val Hoyle’s illegal $500,000 grant to the La Mota-linked non-profit named ENDVR. I sounded the alarm on this in my January 23rd letter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, Natalie K. Wight. Just six days later, on January 29th, investigators issued a subpoena for BOLI to ‘provide all records’ related to Hoyle’s illegal grant,” said Monique DeSpain. “While I do applaud this critical development, it’s long overdue. It is imperative that investigators promptly and thoroughly get to the bottom of what is clearly a deeply troubling blow to public trust and bring to light all the evidence wherever it may lead.”

“The federal subpoena requests ‘all records—including meeting notes, audio recordings, documents, and other communications—related to Endeavor receiving the half-million dollar grant.’ This clearly means all text messages relating to BOLI business on Val’s private cell phones, including all the texts that her lawyer withheld and may have deemed too compromising to disclose to BOLI,” DeSpain added. “If Congresswoman Hoyle has nothing to hide, now is her opportunity to prove it and show that she understands what transparency truly means.”

“Citing the damaging media reports my team chronicled on WhatsValHiding.com, I stated on January 24th that Congresswoman Val Hoyle had disqualified herself from further public service in Congress as our representative in D.C. because she had demonstrated a pattern of corruption, obstruction, and deceit for at least the past three years. For the sake of the voters of Oregon’s 4th District, Hoyle must be held accountable.”

“By taking decisive action to expose alleged wrongdoing, I’m glad that I may have helped move us a step closer to learning the truth about Val Hoyle. This is what leadership and delivering transparency and accountability look like. It’s what I did as a JAG in the US Air Force and as an attorney in private practice. Now voters in Oregon’s 4th district can know what kind of member of Congress they will get by deploying me to Washington D.C. this November.”