Kyrsten Sinema gave $9,000 to man she’s accused of having an affair with

A man identified in court filings as having an affair with former senator Kyrsten Sinema received almost $9,000 from Sinema’s former campaign committee in October, according to newly filed documents. The filings come just weeks after the man’s estranged wife accused Sinema of wrecking their marriage.

According to a report from Notus, which cites a newly filed Federal Election Commission (FEC) document, the recipient was Matthew J Ammel, who worked as a security guard for Sinema. He was paid $1,815.91 on 15 October and $7,136.14 on 31 October in payments listed as “payroll”, according to a filing submitted on Saturday by Sinema for Arizona.

FEC records show that between July 2024 and October 2025, Ammel received a total of more than $128,000 from Sinema for Arizona and a separate political action committee tied to the former senator.

The filing also shows that Sinema has formally shut down her Sinema for Arizona committee, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars last year on expenses that appeared to be largely unrelated to campaign activity.

Those expenditures included “health services” for members of her security detail, along with airline tickets, meals lodging, and concert and event tickets. The spending occurred after Sinema left office in January 2025 and followed other unusual late-term expenses, including hotel stays in Saudi Arabia and gifts from Taylor Swift’s official merchandise store.

Between 1 October and 31 December, the committee refunded nearly $600,000 to donors and spent close to $200,000 on other costs, such as salaries and airfare.

In a lawsuit filed in North Carolina, Ammel’s wife, Heather Ammel, accused Sinema of damaging her marriage. The suit alleges Sinema purchased gifts and concert tickets for Ammel and encouraged his drug use, including to support psychedelic treatments she allegedly financed.

Matthew and Heather Ammel had “a good and loving marriage” with “genuine love and affection” before Sinema interfered, pursuing Matthew Ammel despite knowing he was married, Heather Ammel alleges in her lawsuit.

The Arizona lawmaker’s head of security hired Matthew Ammel after he retired from the army in 2022, according to the lawsuit, which says he accompanied her on travels to destinations including Napa Valley, California; Las Vegas and Saudi Arabia.

Sinema left Congress after the 2024 election. She declined to seek re-election to the Senate, capping a tumultuous single term in which she alienated liberals and left the Democratic party to become an independent.

She now works for the Washington-based legal and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells. She has lobbied for datacenter development and research funding for the psychedelic drug ibogaine.