by Casey Harper
Act Blue, a leading donation processing company for the Democratic Party, is currently under investigation over allegations that its donation processing service is being used to circumvent campaign finance laws.
The Republican-majority House Oversight Committee launched the investigation, citing “reports of potentially fraudulent and illegal financial activity” in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
The lawmakers asked Yellen for copies of suspicious financial activity reports related to ActBlue, an online platform used to process online donations to Democratic candidates.
From the letter:
Recent reports have raised the specter of fraud and campaign finance evasion by individuals using online donation platforms, particularly ActBlue. For example, ActBlue failed to implement standard identity theft and fraud prevention procedures, such as requiring a Card Verification Value (CVV) to process online transactions, until it faced criticism for failing to do so. ActBlue is also under investigation by officials in several states for donations allegedly made fraudulently through the platform without the knowledge of the reported donor. In Virginia, reports of donation activity facilitated through the ActBlue platform included “several cases in which individual donors made tens of thousands of separate donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said in August he was investigating allegations of misuse of ActBlue after reports that “fictitious” accounts were used to funnel thousands of donations, allegedly by criminal sources.
Making donations on behalf of another person is illegal and may be used to circumvent oversight and contribution limits.
“Dishonest entities may include foreigners who have not been legally admitted to permanent residence and who are prohibited by law from supporting political campaigns or parties,” the letter added.
Since allegations of Russian interference and voter fraud mounted in the last federal election, both Republicans and Democrats have stepped up oversight and scrutiny of possible foreign interference in U.S. elections.
Act Blue did not respond to a request for comment.
“We cannot tolerate questionable practices, foreign interference and blatant abuse of our campaign finance laws,” said MP Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y. wrote on XFormerly known as Twitter. “The American people deserve to know who is really behind these contributions. ActBlue has been making questionable donations to Democratic campaigns for too long, raising serious concerns about fraud and illegal contributions…”
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Casey Harper is a reporter in the Washington bureau, Central Square.
Photo “Act Blue Donation Platform” by Blue Nude.
