Former US senator Kyrsten Sinema paid nearly $9,000 to a former security guard who is accused of having an affair with her, according to newly filed campaign finance documents. The payments were made in October from Sinema's campaign committee, Sinema for Arizona, after she left office.
The recipient, Matthew Ammel, received $1,815.91 on 15 October and $7,136.14 on 31 October, listed as "payroll". According to Federal Election Commission records, Ammel received over $128,000 from Sinema's committees between July 2024 and October 2025.
The filings come weeks after Ammel's estranged wife, Heather Ammel, filed a lawsuit in North Carolina accusing Sinema of wrecking their marriage. The suit alleges Sinema purchased gifts and concert tickets for Ammel and encouraged his drug use, including financing psychedelic treatments.
Sinema formally shut down her campaign committee, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on expenses unrelated to campaign activity after she left the Senate in January 2025. These included health services for security detail, airline tickets, meals, and event tickets.
Sinema, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent, did not seek re-election in 2024. She now works for the law firm Hogan Lovells and has lobbied for datacenter development and research funding for the psychedelic drug ibogaine.
