Newly filed documents show that Kyrsten Sinema, the former US senator, paid nearly $9,000 from her campaign committee to a man identified in court filings as having had an affair with her. The payments were made in October to Matthew J Ammel, who worked as a security guard for Sinema, and were listed as "payroll".
A Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing submitted on Saturday reveals that Ammel received $1,815.91 on 15 October and $7,136.14 on 31 October. Records show that between July 2024 and October 2025, he received more than $128,000 in total from Sinema for Arizona and a separate political action committee linked to the former senator.
The filing also confirms that Sinema has formally shut down her Sinema for Arizona committee. In the final quarter of last year, the committee refunded nearly $600,000 to donors and spent close to $200,000 on other costs, including salaries and airfares. Earlier spending had included health services for security detail members, airline tickets, meals, lodging, and concert and event tickets, as well as hotel stays in Saudi Arabia and gifts from Taylor Swift's official merchandise store.
The payments come weeks after Ammel's estranged wife, Heather Ammel, filed a lawsuit in North Carolina accusing Sinema of wrecking their marriage. The suit alleges that Sinema purchased gifts and concert tickets for Matthew Ammel and encouraged his drug use, including financing psychedelic treatments. Heather Ammel claims the couple had "a good and loving marriage" before Sinema pursued her husband despite knowing he was married.
According to the lawsuit, Matthew Ammel was hired by Sinema's head of security after retiring from the army in 2022, and accompanied her on trips to Napa Valley, Las Vegas and Saudi Arabia. Sinema left Congress after the 2024 election, having left the Democratic Party to become an independent. She now works for the Washington-based lobbying firm Hogan Lovells, where she has lobbied for datacenter development and research funding for the psychedelic drug ibogaine.
