Seven of the 10 commissioners who served since 2016 accepted tickets worth more than $260,000, according to a ProPublica analysis of ethics disclosures. FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s financial statements show he has reported accepting honors gala tickets from CBS or its parent company eight times since his 2017 appointment to the commission, totaling over $75,000 in gifts. Federal ethics rules ban employees from taking gifts from any entity that does business with, is regulated by or seeks official action from their agency. An FCC spokesperson previously told ProPublica that agency ethics officers have for years cleared commissioners to accept the tickets, finding it consistent with ethics law. Carr last year defended the FCC’s approval of the Paramount merger with Skydance, saying it “advances the public interest.”