A Wisconsin judge has approved a subpoena against the troubled Democratic fundraiser platform ActBlue, which is under scrutiny over potential unauthorized donations. The latest move is part of a wider investigation into ActBlue by 19 state attorneys general and Congress.
ActBlue’s objections on the grounds that complying with the subpoena would be overly burdensome were denied by Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad D. Schimel, which means that GOP consultant Mark Block and his legal team from the American First Policy Institute can continue with discovery as they seek to expose fraud carried out by the platform.
In his approval of the subpoena, Judge Schimel noted: “Something is not right. There may be an element of fraud, or maybe it is innocent. Plaintiff has set forth enough in their complaint and in support of their subpoena to demonstrate that there may be something here.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told the panel that the Treasury Department informed him in briefings that hundreds of transactions linked to ActBlue were flagged as potentially suspicious by banks.
Investigators are looking for evidence of financial crimes such as wire transfer fraud, counterfeit or fraudulent usage of debit or credit cards, money laundering and identity theft. “Dummy” accounts were widely used on the platform to make thousands of individual donations to various Democratic causes.
Platform used hundreds of smaller transactions to avoid FEC reporting
Block alleged in his racketeering suit that his identity was one of the numerous ones that was stolen and used to make hundreds of donations to the Harris Victory Fund without his authorization. He previously served as a campaign manager for the late Herman Cain.
The platform was apparently trying to get around the regulations stating that individual contributions that amount to less than $200 don’t have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
In some cases, there were hundreds of donations to ActBlue in small amounts like $2.50 coming from the same individual. The group raised more than $2.2 billion for Democratic causes and candidates in the 2021-2022 election cycle, and they raked in $46.7 million just hours after Vice President Kamala Harris was announced as the Democratic nominee after the party finally admitted that Joe Biden was unfit to run the country.
Because ActBlue wasn’t requiring its users at the time to supply CVV numbers for online transactions using credit or debit cards and prepaid gift cards, fraud and illicit foreign contributions were easier to carry out. An investigation by the House Administration Committee found that Russia, Iran, Venezuela and China may have taken advantage of this situation.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-New York) said: "Malign foreign actors are attempting to hijack American elections through the Far Left Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue by tipping the scales in favor of Kamala Harris and Congressional Democrats.
“It has never been more critical to ensure American elections are free from foreign manipulation."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called on federal regulators to put measures in place preventing ActBlue from being used for fraud, saying in a letter to the FEC that they haven’t done enough to keep “straw donors” away.
In a statement, he noted: “Our investigation into ActBlue has uncovered facts indicating that bad actors can illegally interfere in American elections by disguising political donations.”
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