ActBlue, a key fundraising platform for the Democrats, is in serious trouble as workers flee amid an ongoing corruption scandal. Republican lawmakers have gone after the organization for money laundering, and charges are expected soon. This letter indicates that ActBlue may have allowed foreign nationals to contribute to US elections, a violation of the law. In addition, ex-employees alleged that executives have waged a campaign of harassment against their own staff.
Two groups of ActBlue workers sent a letter to the board of directors warning of an “alarming pattern” of resignations. They said the trend was “eroding our confidence in the stability of the organization,” the New York Times reported.ActBlue spokeswoman Megan Hughes said, “Like many organizations, as we undergo some transition heading into this new election cycle, we are focused on ensuring we have a strong team in place.”
Dozens of Republican lawmakers from the House Oversight Committee wrote a letter detailing their findings to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen. “The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating reports of potentially fraudulent and illicit financial activity related to contributions to campaigns of candidates … by online fundraising platforms like ActBlue,” they wrote.
“The Committee writes to request the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) make available to the Committee certain Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) relevant to the Committee’s investigation.
Recent reports have raised the specter of fraud and evasion of campaign finance law by individuals exploiting online contribution platforms, especially ActBlue,” the committee explained.
“For example, 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 it received criticism for not doing so,” they also noted that a number of states have already started their own investigations into the fundraising giant.
“ActBlue is also being investigated by several states’ officials in relation to contributions allegedly made via the platform fraudulently without the reported contributor’s awareness,” the letter reads, “In Virginia, reports of contribution activity facilitated through the ActBlue platform included “some cases in which single donors made tens of thousands of separate donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“Federal law prohibits contributions made in the name of another person, and for good reason,” the letter stated. “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.”
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“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,” they said before asking for more information. ” The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any
time” under House Rule X. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this inquiry.”