The Department of Homeland Security inspector general has referred its investigation of former “special government employee” Corey Lewandowski to the Justice Department , according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The DHS investigation stems from questions about how a $220 million contract for an advertising campaign featuring then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was awarded. At his Senate confirmation hearing, now-Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin testified in March that the department’s inspector general was looking into the contract.

That investigation then expanded, according to a source familiar with the matter, after NBC News reported that Lewandowski was alleged to have sought payment in exchange for protecting and growing the interests of a company, the GEO Group, that was seeking government contracts unrelated to the ad campaign.

Corey Lewandowski at the Pentagon in September 2025.…