FEMA's ‘Shadow Administrator’ Was Paid by a DOGE Member's Startup for Months

Voorhies testified that though she was not portion of DOGE, she was moving alongside the DOGE squad astatine DHS. Part of that enactment progressive analyzing documents that Schutt and the different DOGE FEMA members collected, specified arsenic “financial statements” and “organizational charts.” After her clip arsenic an SGE ran retired successful the autumn of 2025, though, she spoke to Schutt and Lewandowski astir however she could proceed moving with DHS, she said. The solution, arsenic she explained successful her deposition: Voorhies would beryllium brought connected arsenic a subcontractor to different subcontractor, owned by Schutt.

In her deposition, Voorhies said that successful September 2025, she started LV Consulting, a institution wherever she was the lone employee. In October, this institution began serving arsenic a subcontractor to AnchorCode Technologies, which was owned by Schutt and was itself already serving arsenic a subcontractor to different company, IMGE.

IMGE was the “prime” contractor—the institution with the nonstop declaration with DHS. As subcontractors, AnchorCode and LV Consulting did not person nonstop contracts with DHS and bash not look successful the System for Award Management, the strategy that shows which companies declaration with the government.

AnchorCode did not respond to a petition for comment.

IMGE describes itself arsenic a “full-service” selling bureau that offers “audience intelligence, precocious advertising, AI-powered analytics, influencer marketing, advocacy toolsets, and always-on testing.” It appears to beryllium a subsidiary of a overmuch larger communications bureau called GP3 Partners and has worked with US Senator Rand Paul’s run and Advancing American Freedom, a blimpish advocacy enactment founded by erstwhile vice president Mike Pence.

IMGE and GP3 did not respond to a petition for comment.

A national worker with expertise successful the government’s contracting system, who requested anonymity due to the fact that they were not authorized to talk to the press, tells WIRED that the overlying companies and their assorted authorities contracts look to beryllium highly suspect.

“If you’re a elder advisor to an bureau and that bureau is giving you contracts oregon subcontracts, that’s a immense no-no,” says the national employee. “This is virtually the crushed morals rules adjacent exist.”

Schutt’s employment astatine GSA, the worker says, raises further concerns. “An important morals question would besides beryllium whether helium became privy to procurement-sensitive information portion helium was a national worker astatine DHS, which is highly apt if helium was astatine GSA, due to the fact that the main happening they bash is acquisition and procurement,” they say.

In bid to support this benignant of woody aboveboard, the national worker says, Schutt and Voorhies would person needed to spell to the agency’s morals serviceman arsenic good arsenic to the Office of Government Ethics to guarantee determination was nary struggle of interest. For idiosyncratic who was a authorities employee, arsenic Schutt appeared to beryllium astatine GSA, the national worker says, determination would usually request to beryllium a “cooling-off period” betwixt a person’s authorities tenure and their contracting work.

Margaret Dylus-Yukins, elder ineligible counsel for morals astatine the Campaign Legal Center and a erstwhile lawyer advisor to the Office of Government Ethics, tells WIRED that Voorhies was seemingly almighty capable wrong FEMA that she would apt person been taxable to a two-year prohibition connected communicating with the bureau aft ending her clip arsenic an SGE, unless she had been granted a peculiar waiver. (WIRED was not capable to find a waiver for Voorhies oregon Schutt connected the Federal Register.) Based connected her knowing of Voorhies’ situation, Dylus-Yukins alleges, "this is amerciable nether 18 USD 207 of the transgression code.”