by Ireland Owens
Republican Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil on Wednesday called on five states to launch probes into ActBlue, a well-known Democratic fundraising platform, over ‘potential criminal activity.’
Steil, chairman of the House Administration Committee, sent five letters addressed to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. The letters to the attorneys general requested that they probe into ActBlue donations in their respective states based on findings from a committee investigation alleging the organization illegally used people’s identities to channel funds to campaigns.
“As Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, I am writing to refer for your consideration the findings of an investigation conducted by the Committee’s legal team,” Steil wrote in his letters. “This investigation focused on potential unlawful exploitation of unwitting ‘straw donors,’ whose identities may have been used to channel illicit funds into campaigns in your state.”
The committee expanded its initial probe into ActBlue donations in August. The investigation used “extensive data analysis” of more than 200 million Federal Election Committee (FEC) records involving ActBlue over the past 14 years, according to Steil’s letters to the attorneys general.
The committee’s investigation comes after whistleblowers reported inconsistencies involving donor records, which allege that the fundraising platform is involved in ‘money laundering’ and receiving ‘unlawful’ donations from ‘suspicious’ donors. The investigation points to donations received by ActBlue that are “significantly disproportionate to an individual’s net worth or previous giving history” and also references “unusually frequent donations” from first-time donors and elders.
“The Committee’s investigation included consultations with federal agencies, such as the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as well as experts in money laundering, credit card fraud, and terrorism finance,” the letters read. “Perhaps most important to our investigation are the whistleblowers, who came forward to report anomalies in FEC donor records.”
“The final analysis produced a set of anomalous donor profiles, ranked by the severity of the inconsistencies,” Steil said. “In reviewing this analysis, it became clear there is suspicious activity occurring that warrants further review.”
Miyares also launched an investigation into the fundraising platform last month. The Virginia attorney general alleged that many of the state’s donors making contributions to ActBlue were engaging in “fraudulent transactions” and “deceptive” activity.
ActBlue and the Committee on House Administration’s office did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Ireland Owens is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “ActBlue Website” by ActBlue.
