AGs launch probe into major Democratic fundraising platform for fraud
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares launched an investigation last week into ActBlue over fraud allegations.
The allegations
ActBlue is a major Democrat political action committee and fundraising platform that has come under scrutiny following an investigation by reporter James O’Keefe. In a video he posted to X last month, O’Keefe visited ActBlue donors and asked them to verify that their donations matched the organization’s records. The donor rolls show people donating hundreds of thousands of dollars in small, multiple increments every day. But when some of those donors were questioned by O’Keefe, they denied ever making such contributions.
According to ActBlue records, for example, Maryland resident Cindy Nowe made over 1,000 contributions in 2022 totaling $18,849.77. When confronted by O’Keefe, however, Nowe said she never donated such an amount.
Virginia AG: 'Fraudulent' activities
On Friday, Attorney General Miyares sent a letter to ActBlue requesting more information about their alleged “fraudulent, deceptive, and/or otherwise illegal activities.”
“This includes hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions through individual donors in the Commonwealth in volumes that are facially implausible and appear suspicious. Some of these Virginia donors are reported as making multiple daily contributions over the course of multiple years, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in aggregate.”
The AG also noted that some of the donors who allegedly contributed large amounts of money to ActBlue are listed as retired or unemployed seniors with suspicious addresses.
“Taken together, these circumstances appear to indicate that contributions via ActBlue are being made from fictional donors or dummy accounts, or that information reported by or through ActBlue may be fraudulent. Alternatively, these circumstances may indicate that contributions via ActBlue are being made without the reported donors’ consent or awareness,” the AG continued in his letter.
If the fraud charges are true, ActBlue could be in violation of several Virginian and federal laws, including the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Wyoming Secretary of State: 'Deeply troubling'
On Tuesday, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s office also launched an investigation into ActBlue.
“The widespread allegations against ActBlue are deeply troubling, and we must ensure that political action committee are following the Wyoming Election Code,” Secretary Gray said in a statement. “Claiming that a person donated to a PAC if that person never donated to that PAC would be a felony under Wyoming law. I am very concerned, and remain committed to a thorough review of contributions to ensure compliance with Wyoming law.”
Within forty-eight hours after Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, ActBlue funneled over $100 million to the Kamala Harris campaign, which boasted it had broken a fundraising record. ActBlue said 880,000 donors had contributed up to $200 each.
According to political consultant Matt Braynard, ActBlue has disabled the credit card verification process on its website so that donors’ names and addresses need not match the ones on the credit cards.
