For years, ActBlue has been running what has been described as a money-laundering operation for Democrat candidates. When activist James O’Keefe of O’Keefe Media Group investigated the company, he interviewed dozens of Americans who had never donated to Democrat candidates, but whose names and identities were being logged into the ActBlue online system, showing them making hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. Many of these ActBlue victims were retired people on a fixed income who said they had no ability to have made such donations.
Candidates in Alaska, such as Rep. Mary Peltola, use the ActBlue system for online donations. In fact, the Anchorage man who was arrested last week for threatening conservative Supreme Court justices had used ActBlue to donate to Peltola’s campaign.
Peltola raised over $3 million in her previous election from unitemized donations through ActBlue. Campaigns are not required to report the source of donations under $200. The reason the Alaska man’s donation was discovered by Must Read Alaska is because Act Blue has to report contribution sources to the FEC, and in this case the contribution had been earmarked. Others may not have been earmarked but may have gone to her campaign.
Now, ActBlue must answer to Congress. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee, led by Republicans, has launched an investigation over “reports of potentially fraudulent and illicit financial activity.”
Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, Rep. Nick Langworthy of New York and several Oversight Committee Republican members launched a fraud and illicit financial activity investigation into the company. In a letter to U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the lawmakers requested all suspicious activity reports related to ActBlue.
“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating reports of potentially fraudulent and illicit financial activity related to contributions to campaigns of candidates for federal offices mediated by online fundraising platforms like ActBlue. The Committee writes to request the U.S. Department of the Treasury make available to the Committee certain Suspicious Activity Reports relevant to the Committee’s investigation,” the letter said.
Recent reports about ActBlue raise concerns about the threat of fraud and evasion of campaign finance law by individuals exploiting online contribution platforms.
One major problem identified is that ActBlue had not implemented standard procedures to guard against identity theft and fraud, such as requiring a Card Verification Value (CVV) to process online transactions — until the O’Keefe report shined a light on the identity theft aspect of its business model.
ActBlue is also being investigated by several states’ officials in relation to contributions allegedly made through the platform fraudulently without the reported contributor’s awareness. Federal law prohibits contributions made in the name of another person.
Must Read Alaska has reported extensively on the potential fraud being committed by ActBlue and Democrats.
“The Committee is concerned that failure to properly vet contributions made through online platforms may have allowed bad actors to more easily commit fraud to illegally exploit and violate federal campaign finance laws. These bad actors could include foreign nationals not lawfully admitted for permanent residence who are prohibited by statute from contributing to campaigns or political parties. They could also include individuals looking to flout the limits of individual contributions by fraudulently using others’ identities to evade those limits, in addition to other criminal activity in violation of campaign finance laws,” the letter said. “It is imperative that Congress determine whether legislation is necessary to ensure adherence to statutes related to campaign finance, and guard against foreign or unfair influence in our elections,” the committee’s letter said.
The lawmakers requested Secretary Yellen provide all suspicious activity reports related to ActBlue by Oct. 4. Read the letter to Secretary Yellen here.
Last year, O’Keefe asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate ActBlue, but the commission would not even answer his request.
Other Alaska Act Blue campaigns
In Alaska, ActBlue is working to not only retain the congressional seat, but to flip the Alaska House and Senate. From its website, Alaska Rep. Andy Josephson of Anchorage explains the Democrats’ plan and how they will split up the money:
“Alaska leans red but also has an unusual political makeup which occasionally results in independent legislators teaming up with Democrats for a working majority.
“Democrats need to flip 7 AK House seats or 2 Senate seats to officially take a majority of each. This page lets you easily donate to multiple Democratic candidates for the Alaska House and Senate at once! I’ve included the partisan lean ratings according to Dave’s Redistricting.
“By default, your donation will be split evenly among the accounts listed below. None goes to me [Rep. Andy Josephson],” Josephson writes, although his name is listed at the top, along with the others who will “split the money evenly.”
