Virginia’s Attorney General and Wyoming’s Secretary of State are demanding answers from fundraising engine ActBlue amid allegations of dubious and possibly fraudulent donations.
ActBlue is a national Democratic organization that serves to raise money for candidates.
Virginia AG Jason Miyares noted that many of the donations The messages conveyed by the organization are “to a degree that at first glance appears implausible and suspicious,” while Wyoming SOS Chuck Gray Investigate allegations that ActBlue may be involved in identity theft. “To claim that an individual donated to a PAC when that individual never donated to that PAC would be a crime under Wyoming law,” he wrote. “I am very concerned and will continue to conduct a thorough review of donations to ensure compliance with Wyoming law.”
Minister Gray has announced an investigation into ActBlue. Read more here: pic.twitter.com/sFbqIBxa3f
— Office of the Wyoming Secretary of State (@WyomingSOS) July 31, 2024
Meanwhile, Miyares is demanding that ActBlue provide details of its internal workings within 10 days:
🚨🚨 Breaking news: I’ve sent this letter to ActBlue demanding answers. The integrity of our election is at stake. pic.twitter.com/0gUhtmQlYY
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) 2 August 2024
Miyares became concerned after hearing comments from Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio:
The decision to investigate ActBlue came days after Republican Senator Marco Rubio shared his concerns about the organization with conservative commentator and Turning Point Action founder Charlie Kirk. On Kirk’s podcast, Rubio said ActBlue had “become a money laundering organization.” The senator said ActBlue does not require a CVV code for someone to donate to the PAC.
“This is a deliberate strategy on their part,” Rubio said. “If they had to use that code on their credit card, their donations would be gone.”
The Attorney General fears that donors may not even know they have donated money – a disturbing possibility.
The Attorney General questioned whether the donations came from “fictitious donors or sham accounts,” that “the information reported by or through ActBlue may be fraudulent,” or that these donations may have been made “without the consent or knowledge of the reported donors.”
The letter did not indicate how many donors there might be, nor did it state the exact total amount of money.
Miyares asked ActBlue to provide his office with “a detailed description of ActBlue’s processes and procedures for verifying the legality and accuracy of donor and contribution information, as well as the processes and procedures for verifying information reported to regulatory agencies.”
The information should be available by August 12, he wrote.
ActBlue responded to the letter in a statement on Friday, denying any wrongdoing and claiming the investigation was merely a partisan political calculation.
“This investigation is nothing more than a partisan attack and scare tactic to undermine the power of small Democratic and progressive donors. We welcome the opportunity to respond to these frivolous claims,” ActBlue wrote in a statement.
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Whether this double investigation will reveal evidence of wrongdoing remains to be seen, but the allegations are indeed grave.
