Talk about the wrong kind of foreign aid!
After he proposed to expand the visas available to foreign models so they can work in New York, Rep. Anthony Weiner’s mayoral campaign took contributions from some cat walkers from abroad.
Problem is, the models aren’t allowed to donate because they’re not US citizens or permanent resi dents.
The models involved have graced the pages of Sports Illustrated and posed for Victoria’s Se cret lingerie. One was deported for an air-rage incident in which she hit a flight attendant.
Two of the models – Brazilian-born Thalita De Oliveira and Canadian Jessica Stam – are here on work visas, and do not have green cards or US citizenship, their agents said. De Oliveira gave Weiner’s campaign $500, and Stam donated $600, according to Campaign Finance Board records.
And the Danish agent for May Andersen, who used to date NBA star Jason Kidd, said she’s here on a work visa.
Records show Anderson gave $300 to Weiner. In 2006, she hit a flight attendant on a Miami-bound plane, resulting in her deportation.
The donations for Weiner, a Democrat who represents Queens and Brooklyn, were made at a fund-raiser last June 30 at Merkato 55 in the Meatpacking District, records reviewed by The Post show.
The Weiner campaign put the donations toward qualifying for taxpayer matching funds by including them in its filing last July.
“It’s the responsibility of the campaign to make sure that everything’s kosher, and clearly it’s not kosher,” said Baruch College political expert Doug Muzzio.
Weiner’s gala, just a month after his House model bill garnered headlines, was co-hosted by an immigration lawyer whose firm represents some of the top modeling agencies.
The co-owner of Merkato, Kyky Conille, is listed as the “bundler” who gathered the contributions.
But one of the foreign models listed as giving, Noemie Lenoir, said through her French agent that she had no recollection of making a donation. Conille, who is listed as the bundler for Lenoir, too, also said he didn’t remember her being at the fund-raiser.
Weiner spokesman John Collins said, “We returned the checks months ago. They were never deposited in the first place.”